NAME
rename - renames multiple files
SYNOPSIS
rename [ -h|-m|-V ] [ -v ] [ -0 ] [ -n ] [ -f ] [ -d ] [ -u [enc]] [ -e|-E perlexpr]*|perlexpr [ files ]
DESCRIPTION
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 $_ string in Perl for at least some of the filenames specified. If a given filename is not modified by the expression, it will not be renamed. If no filenames are given on the command line, filenames will be read via standard input.
Examples (Larry Wall, 1992)
For example, to rename all files matching *.bak to strip the extension, you might say
rename--'s/\.bak$//'*.bak
To translate uppercase names to lower, you'd use
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)
rename'y/A-Z/a-z/;s/^/my_new_dir\//'./*.*
You can also write the statements separately (see -e/-E)
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.