RENAME(1p) User Contributed Perl Documentation RENAME(1p)
NAME
file-rename - renames multiple files
SYNOPSIS
file-rename [ -h|-m|-V ] [ -v ] [ -0 ] [ -n ] [ -f ] [ -d ] [ -u [enc]]
[ -e|-E perlexpr]*|perlexpr [ files ]
DESCRIPTION
"file-rename" renames the filenames supplied according to the rule
specified as the first argument. The perlexpr argument is a Perl
expression which is expected to modify the $_ string in Perl for at
least some of the filenames specified. If a given filename is not
modified by the expression, it will not be renamed. If no filenames are
given on the command line, filenames will be read via standard input.
Examples (Larry Wall, 1992)
For example, to rename all files matching "*.bak" to strip the
extension, you might say
file-rename -- 's/\.bak$//' *.bak
To translate uppercase names to lower, you'd use
file-rename 'y/A-Z/a-z/' ./*
Examples rewritten to avoid globs which could inject options.
More examples (2020)
You can also use rename to move files between directories, possibly at
the same time as making other changes (but see --filename)
file-rename 'y/A-Z/a-z/;s/^/my_new_dir\//' ./*.*
You can also write the statements separately (see -e/-E)
file-rename -E 'y/A-Z/a-z/' -E 's/^/my_new_dir\//' -- *.*
You can use the predefined variables "$a, $b" in the code; for instance
to create sequences of numbers
rename -e '$a++;s/\w+/file_$a/' -- *.*
OPTIONS
-v, --verbose
Verbose: print names of files successfully renamed.
-0, --null
Use \0 as record separator when reading from STDIN.
-n, --nono
No action: print names of files to be renamed, but don't rename.
-f, --force
Over write: allow existing files to be over-written.
--path, --fullpath
Rename full path: including any directory component. DEFAULT
-d, --filename, --nopath, --nofullpath
Do not rename directory: only rename filename component of path.
-h, --help
Help: print SYNOPSIS and OPTIONS.
-m, --man
Manual: print manual page.
-V, --version
Version: show version number.
-u, --unicode [encoding]
Treat filenames as perl (unicode) strings when running the user-
supplied code.
Decode/encode filenames using encoding, if present.
encoding is optional: if omitted, the next argument should be an
option starting with '-', for instance -e.
-e Expression: code to act on files name.
May be repeated to build up code (like "perl -e"). If no -e,
the first argument is used as code.
-E Statement: code to act on files name, as -e but terminated by
';'.
ENVIRONMENT
No environment variables are used.
AUTHOR
Larry Wall
SEE ALSO
mv(1), perl(1)
DIAGNOSTICS
If you give an invalid Perl expression you'll get a syntax error.
BUGS
The original "rename" did not check for the existence of target
filenames, so had to be used with care.
perl v5.36.0 2024-01-01 RENAME(1p)
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