Rename multiple files in cmd

Question

If I have multiple files in a directory and want to append something to their filenames, but not to the extension, how would I do this?

I have tried the following, with test files file1.txt and file2.txt:

ren *.txt *1.1.txt

This renames the files to file1.1.txt and file2.txt1.1.txt

I want the files to be file1 1.1.txt and file2 1.1.txt

Will this be possible from cmd or do I need to have a bat file to do this? What about PowerShell?

Answer 1

Make sure that there are more ? than there are characters in the longest name:

ren *.txt "???????????????????????????? 1.1.txt"

See How does the Windows RENAME command interpret wildcards? for more info.

New Solution - 2014/12/01

For those who like regular expressions, there is JREN.BAT - a hybrid JScript/batch command line utility that will run on any version of Windows from XP forward.

jren "^.*(?=\.)" "$& 1.1" /fm "*.txt"

or

jren "^(.*)(\.txt)$" "$1 1.1$2" /i

Answer 2

for /f "delims=" %%i in ('dir /b /a-d *.txt') do ren "%%~i" "%%~ni 1.1%%~xi"

If you use the simple for loop without the /f parameter, already renamed files will be again renamed.

Answer 3

Step 1:

Select all files (ctrl + A)

Step 2 :

Then choose rename option

Step 3:

Choose your filename... for ex: myfile

it automatically rename to myfile (01),myfile (02),,.....

If you want to replace spaces & bracket.. continue step 4

Step 4:

Open Windows Powershell from your current folder

Step 5:

For replace empty space to underscore (_)

 dir | rename-item -NewName {$_.name -replace [Regex]::Escape(" "),"_"}

Step 6:

For replace open bracket

 dir | rename-item -NewName {$_.name -replace [Regex]::Escape("("),""}

For replace close bracket

 dir | rename-item -NewName {$_.name -replace [Regex]::Escape(")"),""}

Answer 4

The below command would do the job.

forfiles /M *.txt /C "cmd /c rename @file \"@fname 1.1.txt\""

source: Rename file extensions in bulk

Answer 5

Try this Bulk Rename Utility It works well. Maybe not reinvent the wheel. If you don't necessary need a script this is a good way to go.

Answer 6

@echo off
for %%f in (*.txt) do (
    ren "%%~nf%%~xf" "%%~nf 1.1%%~xf"
)

Answer 7

I found the following in a small comment in Supperuser.com:

@JacksOnF1re - New information/technique added to my answer. You can actually delete your Copy of prefix using an obscure forward slash technique: ren "Copy of .txt" "////////"

Of How does the Windows RENAME command interpret wildcards? See in this thread, the answer of dbenham.

My problem was slightly different, I wanted to add a Prefix to the file and remove from the beginning what I don't need. In my case I had several hundred of enumerated files such as:

SKMBT_C36019101512510_001.jpg
SKMBT_C36019101512510_002.jpg
SKMBT_C36019101512510_003.jpg
SKMBT_C36019101512510_004.jpg
:
:

Now I wanted to respectively rename them all to (Album 07 picture #):

A07_P001.jpg
A07_P002.jpg
A07_P003.jpg
A07_P004.jpg
:
:

I did it with a single command line and it worked like charm:

ren "SKMBT_C36019101512510_*.*" "/////////////////A06_P*.*"

Note:

1. Quoting (") the "<Name Scheme>" is not an option, it does not work otherwise, in our example: "SKMBT_C36019101512510_*.*" and "/////////////////A06_P*.*" were quoted.
2. I had to exactly count the number of characters I want to remove and leave space for my new characters: The A06_P actually replaced 2510_ and the SKMBT_C3601910151 was removed, by using exactly the number of slashes ///////////////// (17 characters).
3. I recommend copying your files (making a backup), before applying the above.

Answer 8

I tried pasting Endoro's command (Thanks Endoro) directly into the command prompt to add a prefix to files but encountered an error. Solution was to reduce %% to %, so:

for /f "delims=" %i in ('dir /b /a-d *.*') do ren "%~i" "Service.Enviro.%~ni%~xi"

Answer 9

I was puzzled by this also... didn't like the parentheses that windows puts in when you rename in bulk. In my research I decided to write a script with PowerShell instead. Super easy and worked like a charm. Now I can use it whenever I need to batch process file renaming... which is frequent. I take hundreds of photos and the camera names them IMG1234.JPG etc...

Here is the script I wrote:

# filename: bulk_file_rename.ps1
# by: subcan
# PowerShell script to rename multiple files within a folder to a 
# name that increments without (#)
# create counter
$int = 1
# ask user for what they want
$regex = Read-Host "Regex for files you are looking for? ex. IMG*.JPG "
$file_name = Read-Host "What is new file name, without extension? ex. New Image "
$extension = Read-Host "What extension do you want? ex. .JPG "
# get a total count of the files that meet regex
$total = Get-ChildItem -Filter $regex | measure
# while loop to rename all files with new name
while ($int -le $total.Count)
{
    # diplay where in loop you are
    Write-Host "within while loop" $int  
    # create variable for concatinated new name - 
    # $int.ToString(000) ensures 3 digit number 001, 010, etc
    $new_name = $file_name + $int.ToString(000)+$extension
    # get the first occurance and rename
    Get-ChildItem -Filter $regex | select -First 1 | Rename-Item -NewName $new_name
    # display renamed file name
    Write-Host "Renamed to" $new_name
    # increment counter
    $int++
}

I hope that this is helpful to someone out there.

subcan

Answer 10

This works for your specific case:

ren file?.txt "file? 1.1.txt"