Post #3990231

Here is a different approach involving loops instead. This allows for greater control over what happens. Note in this script the rename() function just echos the command without any effect. This is just a demonstration, so you can experiment with the arguments and edit the script first. #!/usr/bin/env bash # Rename files # # This script has 3 ways to input filenames. # # If only one argument is given, then its used as search term to match # filenames. If more than one argument # # is given, then instead searching for files it will rename all given # filenames. # # If no filename is given, then list of files will be read from stdin pipe. In # that case combine it with a tool like find. # # Change the below function rename() to set what to do with each old filename. # The default is to echo, so change that first. # # # Examples: # # renameclean.sh '*txt' # # renameclean.sh 'dir1/random?file.txt' 'dir2/subdir/anotherfile.zip' # # find dir -type f -name '*.txt' | renameclean.sh rename() { old="${1}" new="${old}" # Special characters such as ?, * or " need a backslash to match them # literally. new="${new/\?/REPLACEMENT}" new="${new/\*/REPLACEMENT}" new="${new/\"/REPLACEMENT}" echo mv -- "${old}" "${new}" } # If no argument is given, then read list from stdin. if [ "${#}" == 0 ]; then while read -r file; do rename "${file}" done # If one argument is given, then use it as a search name. elif [ "${#}" == 1 ]; then find . -type f -name "${1}" -print0 | while read -r -d $'\0' file; do rename "${file}" done # If more than one argument is given, then use all arguments as filenames to # rename. else for file in "${@}"; do rename "${file}" done fi