replace/rename 1300 .png files at once, cmd or powershell? replace the last 4 digits of ever name

Question

im a noob to the cmd and windows powershell, i do not want to mess anything up so im asking smarter people...

this was my reference https://www.thomas-krenn.com/en/wiki/Cmd_commands_under_Windows

i tried: find *.png -exec mv {} ${foo: -4} ; but i got this "find: parameter format not correct"

can anyone tell me how i messed up?

im trying to remove the last 4 digits of every .png file in a folder. to be clear, im not trying to overrite the .png extension. only the last 4 digits of the name

if name = longname.png i want to remove name from longname.png the result would be long.png — reapersremorse, Sep 27 '20 at 00:38
please add a few sample file names ... and how you want each to look after the rename. also, how do you intend to handle duplicate truncated names? — Lee_Dailey, Sep 27 '20 at 01:53
`find /?` from a command prompt will show you the proper syntax for using it. — Ken White, Sep 27 '20 at 01:54
no duplicate names exist. Example names: agaveitem.png, agaveseeditem.png, akutuqitem.pmg change from agaveitem -> agave.png, agaveseeditem.png -> agaveseed.png, akutuqitem.png -> akutuq.png — reapersremorse, Sep 27 '20 at 02:08

Wasif · Accepted Answer · 2020-09-27T02:58:10.643

1

I will use this in powershell:

dir "filepath"-filt *.png -rec|ren -newn {($_.basename -replace "\d{4}$","")+$_.extension}

dir (alias to Get-ChildItem) will recursively list .png files. (-rec -> -recurse,-filt -> -filter)
Then pipe to ren (alias to Rename-Item)
Then create a scriptblock inside -newn (goes to -newname)
Replace last 4 digits from base name (file name without extension) using regex (\d matches a digit, {4} matches exactly 4 instances, $ matches at end of string) and join the extension, $_ goes to the pipeline item.

edited Sep 27 '20 at 02:58

answered Sep 27 '20 at 02:07

Wasif

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Yours results in an error `Rename-Item : The input to the script block for parameter 'NewName' failed. The -ireplace operator allows only two elements to follow it, not 3.` – Doug Maurer Sep 27 '20 at 02:56
i encountered the same, i just used a plugin on visual studios\ – reapersremorse Sep 27 '20 at 03:02

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 27 '20 at 02:55

Similar to Wasif's answer, but makes sure the name is at least 5 digits long so you don't end up with any files named .png.

Get-ChildItem -path $folder -Filter *.png |
    Where-Object {$_.Name -match '.{5}.png'} |
        Rename-Item -NewName {$_.BaseName -replace '.{4}$',".png"}

score -1 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 27 '20 at 03:00

i found an even simpler way, open your folder in visual studio code, install a plugin called Batch Rename by jannisx11 v0.0.3

once installed, select all folders or files you wish to change the name of, then highlight the bit you want to replace, then you can either find and replace or use ctrl+d in order to select next untill all files that need changing are selected. now you can change the name just by typing. once you are ready you can save and it will auto rename all files for you. 1genericitem -> 1generic this is not an answer to the original question when considering i asked for a cmd or power-shell example, but i was under the impression that was the only 2 ways of doing this until i did more research, i should have done more thorough research in the beginning.

replace/rename 1300 .png files at once, cmd or powershell? replace the last 4 digits of ever name

3 Answers3