windows batch file rename

Question

I have some file such as AAA_a001.jpg, BBB_a002.jpg, CCC_a003.jpg in Windows 7 and I'm trying to use batch to rename these file to a001_AAA.jpg, a002_BBB.jpg, a003_CCC.jpg.

Just to swap the content between _.

I have been searching for a while, but still don't know how to do this. Can anyone help? Thanks.

Itsproinc · Answer 1 · 2012-12-23T18:02:44.340

52

Use REN Command

Ren is for rename

ren ( where the file is located ) ( the new name )

example

ren C:\Users\&username%\Desktop\aaa.txt bbb.txt

it will change aaa.txt to bbb.txt

Your code will be :

ren (file located)AAA_a001.jpg a001.AAA.jpg

ren (file located)BBB_a002.jpg a002.BBB.jpg

ren (file located)CCC_a003.jpg a003.CCC.jpg

and so on

IT WILL NOT WORK IF THERE IS SPACES!

Hope it helps :D

edited Dec 23 '12 at 18:02

answered Dec 23 '12 at 17:57

Itsproinc

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`just to swap the content between '_'` Do you understand what the question is? – jadkik94 Dec 23 '12 at 18:02
I know I should use ren to rename the file, but my problem is I don't know how to do those string manipulations Orz – yuchien Dec 23 '12 at 18:02
Not really :/ Please use a **good explanation of swap the content**? – Itsproinc Dec 23 '12 at 18:05
There's a pattern that goes like `PART1_PART2.EXT` and OP wants to rename all files in a certain directory to `PART2_PART1.EXT`. I guess :P – jadkik94 Dec 23 '12 at 18:07
I want to swap the content between '_', Ex: AAA_BBB.txt => BBB_AAA.txt – yuchien Dec 23 '12 at 18:07
sorry for the confusing =P – yuchien Dec 23 '12 at 18:08
I still dont understand... well at least i helped .. :( – Itsproinc Dec 23 '12 at 18:08
So thats mean you swapping the contect of File a to file b? is that the explanation? – Itsproinc Dec 23 '12 at 18:10
@Itsproinc OP is trying to do exactly what you are doing but without having to write it for every filename in the folder he's on. – jadkik94 Dec 23 '12 at 18:12
=="? and what is op i know op is operator ( in minecraft ) – Itsproinc Dec 23 '12 at 18:14
@Itsproinc Come on, stay! OP means original poster. Wait here a bit and you'll see a good answer coming, and you'll benefit as well. – jadkik94 Dec 23 '12 at 18:23
If you try to run this in batch script you get the error ```The syntax of the command is incorrect.``` – Oliver Dixon Jun 08 '22 at 15:34

dbenham · Accepted Answer · 2017-08-12T17:51:23.530

12

@echo off
pushd "pathToYourFolder" || exit /b
for /f "eol=: delims=" %%F in ('dir /b /a-d *_*.jpg') do (
  for /f "tokens=1* eol=_ delims=_" %%A in ("%%~nF") do ren "%%F" "%%~nB_%%A%%~xF"
)
popd

Note: The name is split at the first occurrence of _. If a file is named "part1_part2_part3.jpg", then it will be renamed to "part2_part3_part1.jpg"

edited Aug 12 '17 at 17:51

answered Dec 23 '12 at 18:49

dbenham

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still a minor problem: it swap ".jpg" too. Ex. part1_part2.jpg => part2.jpg_part1 Orz – yuchien Dec 24 '12 at 06:45
@raphael0914 - ??? It works perfectly for me: part1_part2.jpg --> part2_part1.jpg – dbenham Dec 24 '12 at 09:41

score 11 · Answer 3 · edited Dec 31 '14 at 06:14

11

as Itsproinc said, the REN command works!

but if your file path/name has spaces, use quotes " "

example:

ren C:\Users\&username%\Desktop\my file.txt not my file.txt

add " "

ren "C:\Users\&username%\Desktop\my file.txt" "not my file.txt"

hope it helps

edited Dec 31 '14 at 06:14

Fiasco Labs

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answered Nov 09 '13 at 06:39

QbicSquid

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Note to others ... this only works with backslashes and will throw an error with forward slashes "cannot find file" – Chris Sprague Apr 11 '22 at 15:45

score 1 · Answer 4 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:54

I am assuming you know the length of the part before the _ and after the underscore, as well as the extension. If you don't it might be more complex than a simple substring.

cd C:\path\to\the\files
for /f %%a IN ('dir /b *.jpg') do (
set p=%a:~0,3%
set q=%a:~4,4%
set b=%p_%q.jpg
ren %a %b
)

I just came up with this script, and I did not test it. Check out this and that for more info.

IF you want to assume you don't know the positions of the _ and the lengths and the extension, I think you could do something with for loops to check the index of the _, then the last index of the ., wrap it in a goto thing and make it work. If you're willing to go through that trouble, I'd suggest you use WindowsPowerShell (or Cygwin) at least (for your own sake) or install a more advanced scripting language (think Python/Perl) you'll get more support either way.

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Mar 21 '17 at 23:24

I rename in code

echo off

setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion

for %%a in (*.txt) do (
    REM echo %%a
    set x=%%a
    set mes=!x:~17,3!

    if !mes!==JAN (
        set mes=01
    )

    if !mes!==ENE (
        set mes=01
    )

    if !mes!==FEB (
        set mes=02
    )

    if !mes!==MAR (
        set mes=03
    )

    if !mes!==APR (
        set mes=04
    )

    if !mes!==MAY (
        set mes=05
    )

    if !mes!==JUN (
        set mes=06
    )

    if !mes!==JUL (
        set mes=07
    )

    if !mes!==AUG (
        set mes=08
    )

    if !mes!==SEP (
        set mes=09
    )

    if !mes!==OCT (
        set mes=10
    )

    if !mes!==NOV (
        set mes=11
    )

    if !mes!==DEC (
        set mes=12
    )

    ren %%a !x:~20,4!!mes!!x:~15,2!.txt 

    echo !x:~20,4!!mes!!x:~15,2!.txt 

)

score 0 · Answer 6 · edited Jun 07 '21 at 10:01

The PowerShell way works for me and easier to understand and change. However, got errors like rename-item : Source and destination path must be different until I changed it a bit. To rename files of the folder only:

dir | Where-Object {$.Name -match 'replaceMe'} | Rename-Item -NewName { $.Name -replace 'replaceMe','myNewText' }

To rename files of the folder and sub folders recursively:

Get-ChildItem -Recurse | Where-Object {$.Name -match '.Core.'} | Rename-Item -NewName { $.Name -replace '.Core.','.Framework.' }

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Aug 21 '21 at 08:42

You can try this one code:

echo off
cd D:\TEMP
for %%A IN (*.jpg) do (
 call :dothings "%%A"
)
cd D:\2
goto :eof

:dothings
set A=%1
set P=%A:~1,12%
set Q=%A:~14,4%
set B="%Q% %P%.jpg"
ren %a% %b%
goto :eof

it will rename for example "Untitled-227 1965.jpg" to "1965 Untitled-227.jpg"

score -1 · Answer 8 · answered May 22 '20 at 14:47

-1

I found this solution via PowerShell :

dir | rename-item -NewName {$_.name -replace "replaceME","MyNewTxt"}

This will rename parts of all the files in the current folder.

answered May 22 '20 at 14:47

gebee09

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7

there is something strange going on here, since this mangled the file names. Perhaps the -replace param takes in regex or something – Pablo Canseco May 24 '20 at 23:58

windows batch file rename

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