Awesome

brename: batch renaming safely

brename is a cross-platform command-line tool for safely batch renaming files/directories via regular expression.

Table of Contents

• Features
• Installation
• Usage
• Examples
• Real-world examples
• FAQS
• Contact
• License
• Starchart

Features

• Cross-platform. Supporting Windows, Mac OS X and Linux,

  • Windows file systems, including NTFS and FAT, are case-insensitive. Some operations are allowed on Linux, while they could be dangerous on Windows. For example, renaming test.tar.gz to test.tar will overwrite TEST.tar. brename (v2.13.0 and later versions) can handle these cases appropriately (-w and -W).

• Safe. It helps you check potential conflicts and errors before it's too late.

  <img src="screenshot/check-error.png" width="700"/>

  Some common conflict and errors that might happen with commands like mv or rename.

  • New path existed: Existed files might be overwritten, causing data loss.
  • Overwriting newly renamed path. Existed files might be overwritten, causing data loss. This case is hard to check by eyes.
  • Missing target: New file is empty, that's not allowed.
  • New path ending with a space: Not allowed in Windows. It's legal in Linux, but might cause unexpected errors.
  • New path ending with a period: Not allowed in Windows.

• Supporting dry run. A good habbit.

  <img src="screenshot/dry-run.png" width="700"/>

• Supporting Undo the LAST successful operation, like a time machine.

  <img src="screenshot/undo.png" width="700"/>

• Overwrite can be detected and users can choose whether overwrite or leave it (-o/--overwrite-mode).

• File filtering.

  • Supporting including (-f/--include-filters) and excluding (-F/--exclude-filters) files via regular expression.
  • No need to run commands like find ./ -name "*.html" -exec CMD.

• Renaming submatch with corresponding value via key-value file (-r "{kv}" -k kv.tsv).

• Renaming via ascending integer (-r "{nr}").

• Automatically making directoy: e.g., renaming a-b-c.txt to a/b/c.txt.

• Recursively renaming both files and directories (-R/--recursive, -D/--including-dir, --only-dir).

Installation

brename is implemented in Go programming language, executable binary files for most popular operating systems are freely available in release page.

Method 1: Download binaries

brename v2.14.0

Tip: run brename -V to check update !!!

OS	Arch	File, 中国镜像	Download Count
Linux	32-bit	brename_linux_386.tar.gz,<br/> 中国镜像
Linux	64-bit	brename_linux_amd64.tar.gz,<br/> 中国镜像
Linux	arm64	brename_linux_arm64.tar.gz,<br/> 中国镜像
OS X	64-bit	brename_darwin_amd64.tar.gz,<br/> 中国镜像
OS X	arm64	brename_darwin_arm64.tar.gz,<br/> 中国镜像
Windows	32-bit	brename_windows_386.exe.tar.gz,<br/> 中国镜像
Windows	64-bit	brename_windows_amd64.exe.tar.gz,<br/> 中国镜像

Just download compressed executable file of your operating system, and decompress it with tar -zxvf *.tar.gz command or other tools. And then:

1. For Linux-like systems

   1. If you have root privilege simply copy it to /usr/local/bin:

       sudo cp brename /usr/local/bin/
      

   2. Or copy to anywhere in the environment variable PATH:

       mkdir -p $HOME/bin/; cp brename $HOME/bin/
      

2. For windows, just copy brename.exe to C:\WINDOWS\system32.

Method 2: For Go developer

go get -u github.com/shenwei356/brename/

Method 3: For ArchLinux AUR users

yaourt -S brename

Method 4: For Scoop users

scoop install brename

Method 5: Compiling from source

# download Go from https://go.dev/dl
wget https://go.dev/dl/go1.17.13.linux-amd64.tar.gz

tar -zxf go1.17.13.linux-amd64.tar.gz -C $HOME/

# or 
#   echo "export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/go/bin" >> ~/.bashrc
#   source ~/.bashrc
export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/go/bin

git clone https://github.com/shenwei356/brename
cd brename

go build

# or statically-linked binary
CGO_ENABLED=0 go build -tags netgo -ldflags '-w -s'

# or cross compile for other operating systems and architectures
CGO_ENABLED=0 GOOS=openbsd GOARCH=amd64 go build -tags netgo -ldflags '-w -s'

Usage

brename: a practical cross-platform command-line tool for safely batch renaming files/directories via regular expression

Version: 2.14.0

Author: Wei Shen <shenwei356@gmail.com>

Homepage: https://github.com/shenwei356/brename

Warnings:
  1. The path in file systems like FAT32 or NTFS is case-insensitive, so you should switch on the flag
     -w/--case-insensitive-path to correctly check file overwrites.
  2. The flag -w/--case-insensitive-path is switched on by default on Windows, please use
     -W/--case-sensitive-path to disable it if the file system is indeed case-sensitive.
  3. New paths ending with periods of spaces, being error-prone, are not allowed.

Three path filters:

  1. -S/--skip-filters       black list     default value: ^\. (skipping paths starting with ".")
  2. -F/--exclude-filters    black list     no default value
  3. -f/--include-filters    white list     default value: .   (anything)

  Notes:
  1. Paths starting with "." are ignored by default, disable this with -S "".
  2. These options support multiple values, e.g., -f ".html" -f ".htm".
     But ATTENTION: each comma in filters is treated as a separator of multiple filters.
     Please use double quotation marks for patterns containing comma, e.g., -p '"A{2,}"'
  3. The three filters are performed in order of -S, -F, -f.
  4. -F/--exclude-filters is prefered for excluding path, cause it has no default value.
     Setting -S/--skip-filters will overwrite its default value.


Special replacement symbols:

  {nr}    Ascending integer
  {kv}    Corresponding value of the key (captured variable $n) by key-value file,
          n can be specified by flag -I/--key-capt-idx (default: 1)

Special cases of replacement string:
 *1. Capture variables should be in the format of '${1}' to reduce errors.
    a). If the capture variable is followed with space or other simple, it's OK:
            -r '$1 abc'
    b). If followed by numbers, characters, or underscore. That is ambiguous:
            -r '$1abc' actually refers to the variable '1abc', please use '${1}abc'.
            -r '$2_$1' actually refers to the variable '2_', please use '${2}_${1}'.
  2. Want to replace with a character '$',
    a). If using '{kv}', you need use '$$$$' instead of a single '$':
            -r '{kv}' -k <(sed 's/\$/$$$$/' kv.txt)
    b). If not, use '$$'. e.g., adding '$' to all numbers:
            -p '(\d+)' -d -r '$$${1}'

Usage:
  brename [flags]

Examples:
  1. dry run and showing potential dangerous operations (-d)
      brename -p "abc" -d
  2. dry run and only show operations that will cause error (-v)
      brename -p "abc" -d -v 2
  3. only renaming specific paths via include filters (-f)
      brename -p ":" -r "-" -f ".htm$" -f ".html$"
  4. renaming all .jpeg files to .jpg in all subdirectories (-R)
      brename -p "\.jpeg" -r ".jpg" -R   dir
  5. using capture variables, e.g., $1, $2 ...
      brename -p "(a)" -r "\$1\$1"
      or brename -p "(a)" -r '$1$1' in Linux/Mac OS X
  6. renaming directory too (-D)
      brename -p ":" -r "-" -R -D   pdf-dirs
  7. using key-value file (-k)
      brename -p "(.+)" -r "{kv}" -k kv.tsv
  8. do not touch file extension (-e)
      brename -p ".+" -r "{nr}" -f .mkv -f .mp4 -e
  9. only list paths that match pattern (-l)
      brename -i -f '.docx?$' -p . -R -l
  10. undo the LAST successful operation (-u)
      brename -u
  11. disable undo if you do not want to create .brename_detail.txt (-x)
      brename -p xxx -r yyy -x
  12. clear/remove all .brename_detail.txt files (--clear)
      brename --clear -R
  13. also operate on hidden files: empty -S (default: ^\.)
      brename -p xxx -r yyy -S ""

  More examples: https://github.com/shenwei356/brename

Flags:
  -w, --case-insensitive-path     the file system (e.g., FAT32 or NTFS) is case-insensitive. It's
                                  automatically swiched on on Windows
  -W, --case-sensitive-path       believing that the file system is case-sensitive. Please use this to
                                  disable the flag -w/--case-insensitive-path, which is switched on by
                                  default on Windows
      --clear                     remove all .brename_detail.txt" file, you may need to add
                                  -R/--recursive to recursively clear all files in the given path
  -x, --disable-undo              do not create .brename_detail.txt file for undo
  -d, --dry-run                   print rename operations but do not run
  -F, --exclude-filters strings   exclude file filter(s) (regular expression, NOT wildcard). multiple
                                  values supported, e.g., -F ".html" -F ".htm", but ATTENTION: each
                                  comma in the filter is treated as the separator of multiple filters,
                                  please use double quotation marks for patterns containing comma, e.g.,
                                  -p '"A{2,}"'
  -U, --force-undo                continue undo even when some operations failed
  -h, --help                      help for brename
  -i, --ignore-case               ignore case of -p/--pattern, -f/--include-filters and -F/--exclude-filters
  -E, --ignore-err                ignore director reading errors
  -e, --ignore-ext                ignore file extension. i.e., replacement does not change file extension
  -f, --include-filters strings   include file filter(s) (regular expression, NOT wildcard). multiple
                                  values supported, e.g., -f ".html" -f ".htm", but ATTENTION: each
                                  comma in the filter is treated as the separator of multiple filters,
                                  please use double quotation marks for patterns containing comma, e.g.,
                                  -p '"A{2,}"' (default [.])
  -D, --including-dir             rename directories
  -K, --keep-key                  keep the key as value when no value found for the key
  -I, --key-capt-idx int          capture variable index of key (1-based) (default 1)
  -m, --key-miss-repl string      replacement for key with no corresponding value
  -k, --kv-file string            tab-delimited key-value file for replacing key with value when using
                                  "{kv}" in -r (--replacement)
  -l, --list                      only list paths that match pattern
  -a, --list-abs                  list absolute path, using along with -l/--list
  -s, --list-sep string           separator for list of found paths (default "\n")
      --max-depth int             maximum depth for recursive search (0 for no limit)
  -N, --nature-sort               list paths in nature sort, using along with -l/--list
      --nr-width int              minimum width for {nr} in flag -r/--replacement. e.g., formating "1"
                                  to "001" by --nr-width 3 (default 1)
      --only-dir                  only rename directories
  -o, --overwrite-mode int        overwrite mode (0 for reporting error, 1 for overwrite, 2 for not
                                  renaming) (default 0)
  -p, --pattern string            search pattern (regular expression)
  -q, --quiet                     be quiet, do not show any information and warning
  -R, --recursive                 rename recursively
  -r, --replacement string        replacement. capture variables supported.  e.g. $1 or ${1} (prefered)
                                  represents the first submatch. ATTENTION: for *nix OS, use SINGLE
                                  quote NOT double quotes or use the \ escape character. Ascending
                                  integer is also supported by "{nr}"
  -S, --skip-filters strings      skip file filter(s) (regular expression, NOT wildcard). multiple
                                  values supported, e.g., -S "^\." for skipping files starting with a
                                  dot, but ATTENTION: each comma in the filter is treated as the
                                  separator of multiple filters, please use double quotation marks for
                                  patterns containing comma, e.g., -p '"A{2,}"' (default [^\.])
  -n, --start-num int             starting number when using {nr} in replacement (default 1)
  -u, --undo                      undo the LAST successful operation
  -v, --verbose int               verbose level (0 for all, 1 for warning, error and renamed files, 2
                                  for only error and renamed files) (default 2)
  -V, --version                   print version information and check for update

Examples

Take a directory for example (run generate-example-folder.sh to generate)

$ sh generate-example-folder.sh 
example
├── abc
│   ├── A.JPEG
│   ├── B.HTM
│   └── B.JPEG
├── a.html
├── a.jpeg
└── b.jpeg

# examples below were executed in directory: example
cd example/

1. Recursively renaming all .jpeg files to .jpg in all subdirectories (-R/--recursive). A dry run is firstly performed for safety checking (-d/--dry-run).

    $ brename -p "\.jpeg" -r ".jpg" -R -d
    Searching for paths to rename...
   
      [OK] example/a.jpeg -> example/a.jpg
      [OK] example/b.jpeg -> example/b.jpg
   
    2 path(s) to be renamed
   
   
    $ brename -p "\.jpeg" -r ".jpg" -R
    Searching for paths to rename...
   
      Done searching.
   
    Renaming paths...
   
      [DONE] example/a.jpeg -> example/a.jpg
      [DONE] example/b.jpeg -> example/b.jpg
   
    2 path(s) renamed in 0.001 seconds
   
    $ tree
    .
    ├── abc
    │   ├── A.JPEG
    │   ├── B.HTM
    │   └── B.JPEG
    ├── a.html
    ├── a.jpg
    └── b.jpg
   

2. Undo the LAST successful operation, yes it's COOL! (-u/--undo, -U/--force-undo)

    $ brename -u
    Renaming paths back...
   
      [DONE] example/b.jpg -> example/b.jpeg
      [DONE] example/a.jpg -> example/a.jpeg
   
    2 path(s) renamed back in 0.000 seconds
    
   

   Disable undo if you do not want to create .brename_detail.txt (-x)

    $ brename -p xxx -r yyy -x
    
   

   Clear/remove all .brename_detail.txt files (--clear)

    $ brename --clear -R
   

3. Dry run, only showing operations that will cause error (just remove -d).

    # default value of -v is 0
    $ brename -p a -r b -R -D -d
    Searching for paths to rename...
   
      [OK] a.html -> b.html
      [new path existed] a.jpeg -> b.jpeg
      [OK] abc -> bbc
   
    1 potential error(s) detected, please check
   
    $ brename -p a -r b -R -D
    Searching for paths to rename...
   
      Done searching.
      [new path existed] example/a.jpeg -> example/b.jpeg
   
    1 potential error(s) detected, please check
   

4. Ignoring cases (-i/--ignore-case)

    $ brename -p "\.jpeg" -r ".jpg" -R -i
    Searching for paths to rename...
   
      Done searching.
   
    Renaming paths...
   
      [DONE] abc/A.JPEG -> abc/A.jpg
      [DONE] abc/B.JPEG -> abc/B.jpg
   
    2 path(s) renamed in 0.000 seconds
   
   
    $ tree
    .
    ├── abc
    │   ├── A.jpg
    │   ├── B.HTM
    │   └── B.jpg
    ├── a.html
    ├── a.jpg
    └── b.jpg
   

5. Using capture variables, e.g., $1, $2 ...

    # or brename -p "(a)" -r '$1$1' in Linux/Mac OS X
    $ brename -p "(a)" -r "\$1\$1" -i
    Searching for paths to rename...
   
      Done searching.
   
    Renaming paths...
   
      [DONE] a.html -> aa.html
      [DONE] a.jpg -> aa.jpg
   
    2 path(s) renamed in 0.000 seconds
   
    $ tree
    .
    ├── aa.html
    ├── aa.jpg
    ├── abc
    │   ├── A.jpg
    │   ├── B.HTM
    │   └── B.jpg
    └── b.jpg
   

6. Renaming directory too (-D/--including-dir), even renaming directory only (-D --only-dir)

    $ brename -p "a" -r "A" -R -D
    Searching for paths to rename...
   
      Done searching.
   
    Renaming paths...
   
      [DONE] aa.html -> AA.html
      [DONE] aa.jpg -> AA.jpg
      [DONE] abc -> Abc
   
    3 path(s) renamed in 0.001 seconds
   
    $ tree
    .
    ├── AA.html
    ├── AA.jpg
    ├── Abc
    │   ├── A.jpg
    │   ├── B.HTM
    │   └── B.jpg
    └── b.jpg
   

7. Only renaming specific files via include filters (regular expression) (-f/--include-filters)

    $ brename -p '(.)' -r ' $1' -d
    Searching for paths to rename...
   
      [OK] AA.html ->  A A . h t m l
      [OK] AA.jpg ->  A A . j p g
      [OK] b.jpg ->  b . j p g
   
    3 path(s) to be renamed
   
   
    
    $ brename -p '(.)' -r ' $1' -d -f '\.jpg$'
    Searching for paths to rename...
   
      [OK] AA.jpg ->  A A . j p g
      [OK] b.jpg ->  b . j p g
   
    2 path(s) to be renamed
   

   Attention: value of -f/--include-filters and -F/--exclude-filters should be regular expression, NOT wildcard!

    $ brename -p '(.)' -r '$1 ' -d -f *.jpg
    Seems you are using wildcard for -f/--include-filters? Make sure using regular expression: AA.jpg
    Searching for paths to rename...
   
   
    0 path(s) to be renamed
    
    $ brename -p '(.)' -r '$1 ' -d -f '*.jpg'
    Are you using wildcard for -f/--include-filters? It should be regular expression: *.jpg
    illegal regular expression for include filter: *.jpg
    
    $ brename -p '(.)' -r '$1 ' -d -f A*
    Seems you are using wildcard for -f/--include-filters? Make sure using regular expression: AA.html
    Searching for paths to rename...
   
   
    0 path(s) to be renamed
   

8. Excluding files via exclude filters (regular expression) (-F/--exclude-filters)

    $ brename -p '(.)' -r ' $1' -d
    Searching for paths to rename...
   
      [OK] AA.html ->  A A . h t m l
      [OK] AA.jpg ->  A A . j p g
      [OK] b.jpg ->  b . j p g
   
    3 path(s) to be renamed
   
   
    $ brename -p '(.)' -r ' $1' -d -F '\.html$'
    Searching for paths to rename...
   
      [OK] AA.jpg ->  A A . j p g
      [OK] b.jpg ->  b . j p g
   
    2 path(s) to be renamed
    
   

9. Skipping files via skip filter (regular expression) (-S/--skip-filters). This filter step is performed before the exclude filters. The default value ^\. is for skipping files starting with dot, which are hidden configuration files in Linux. If you do not want to skip these paths, just empty it.

    $ brename -p xxx -r yyy -S ""
   

10. Do not touch file extension (-e/--ignore-ext)

     $ brename -p '(.)' -r ' $1' -d
     Searching for paths to rename...
    
       [OK] AA.html ->  A A . h t m l
       [OK] AA.jpg ->  A A . j p g
       [OK] b.jpg ->  b . j p g
    
     3 path(s) to be renamed
    
     $ brename -p '(.)' -r ' $1' -d -e
     Searching for paths to rename...
    
       [OK] AA.html ->  A A.html
       [OK] AA.jpg ->  A A.jpg
       [OK] b.jpg ->  b.jpg
    
     3 path(s) to be renamed
    

11. Renaming with number (-r {nr})

     $ brename -d -p '(.+)\.' -r 'pic-{nr}.' -f .jpg -d
     Searching for paths to rename...
    
       [OK] AA.jpg -> pic-1.jpg
       [OK] b.jpg -> pic-2.jpg
    
     2 path(s) to be renamed
    
    
     $ brename -d -p '(.+)\.' -r 'pic-{nr}.' -f .jpg -d --nr-width 3 --start-num 11
     Searching for paths to rename...
    
       [OK] AA.jpg -> pic-011.jpg
       [OK] b.jpg -> pic-012.jpg
    
     2 path(s) to be renamed
    

12. Replace submatch with corresponding value via tab delimited key-value file (-k/--kv-file)

     $ more kv.tsv
     a       一
     b       二
     c       三
    
     $ brename -p '^(\w)' -r '{kv}' -k kv.tsv -K -i -d
     read key-value file: kv.tsv
     3 pairs of key-value loaded
     Searching for paths to rename...
    
       [OK] AA.html -> 一A.html
       [OK] AA.jpg -> 一A.jpg
       [OK] b.jpg -> 二.jpg
       [unchanged] kv.tsv -> kv.tsv
    
     3 path(s) to be renamed
    

13. Auto mkdir

     $ touch a-b-c.txt
    
     $ brename -f .txt -p '-' -r '/'
     Searching for paths to rename...
    
       Done searching.
    
     Renaming paths...
    
       [DONE] a-b-c.txt -> a/b/c.txt
    
     1 path(s) renamed in 0.000 seconds
    
     $ tree a
     a
     └── b
         └── c.txt
    

14. Only listing paths that match pattern (-l and -a)

     $ brename -p '.gz$' -R -l
     binaries/brename_darwin_386.tar.gz
     binaries/brename_darwin_amd64.tar.gz
     binaries/brename_linux_386.tar.gz
     binaries/brename_linux_amd64.tar.gz
     binaries/brename_windows_386.exe.tar.gz
     binaries/brename_windows_amd64.exe.tar.gz
    
     $ brename -p '.gz$' -R -l -a
     /home/shenwei/project/src/github.com/shenwei356/brename/binaries/brename_darwin_386.tar.gz
     /home/shenwei/project/src/github.com/shenwei356/brename/binaries/brename_darwin_amd64.tar.gz
     /home/shenwei/project/src/github.com/shenwei356/brename/binaries/brename_linux_386.tar.gz
     /home/shenwei/project/src/github.com/shenwei356/brename/binaries/brename_linux_amd64.tar.gz
     /home/shenwei/project/src/github.com/shenwei356/brename/binaries/brename_windows_386.exe.tar.gz
     /home/shenwei/project/src/github.com/shenwei356/brename/binaries/brename_windows_amd64.exe.tar.gz
    

15. Overwrite mode (-o/--overwrite-mode)

     $ ls *.tar.gz
     brename_darwin_386.tar.gz    brename_linux_386.tar.gz    brename_windows_386.exe.tar.gz
     brename_darwin_amd64.tar.gz  brename_linux_amd64.tar.gz  brename_windows_amd64.exe.tar.gz
    

    1. default mode: reporting error

        $ brename -p 386 -r amd64 -d
        Searching for paths to rename...
       
          [new path existed] brename_linux_386.tar.gz -> brename_linux_amd64.tar.gz
          [new path existed] brename_windows_386.exe.tar.gz -> brename_windows_amd64.exe.tar.gz
       
        2 potential error(s) detected, please check
       

    2. allowing overwrite

        $ brename -p 386 -r amd64 -d -o 1
        Searching for paths to rename...
       
          [new path existed] brename_linux_386.tar.gz -> brename_linux_amd64.tar.gz (will be overwrited)
          [new path existed] brename_windows_386.exe.tar.gz -> brename_windows_amd64.exe.tar.gz (will be overwrited)
       
        2 path(s) to be renamed
       

    3. leave it

        $ brename -p 386 -r amd64 -d -o 2
        Searching for paths to rename...
       
          [new path existed] brename_linux_386.tar.gz -> brename_linux_amd64.tar.gz (will NOT be overwrited)
          [new path existed] brename_windows_386.exe.tar.gz -> brename_windows_amd64.exe.tar.gz (will NOT be overwrited)
       
        0 path(s) to be renamed
       

Real-world examples

1. Formating genome assembly file from NCBI.

    $ ls 
    GCF_029211165.1_ASM2921116v1_genomic.fa
   
    # ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    # only keeping accession
   
    Searching for paths to rename...
   
    [OK] GCF_029211165.1_ASM2921116v1_genomic.fa -> GCF_029211165.fa
   
    1 path(s) to be renamed
   
    # ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    # keeping accession.version
    
    $ brename -R -p '^(\w{3}_\d{9}\.\d+).+' -r '$1.fa' -d
    Searching for paths to rename...
   
      [OK] GCF_029211165.1_ASM2921116v1_genomic.fa -> GCF_029211165.1.fa
   
    1 path(s) to be renamed
   
    
   

2. Replace matches with corresponding pairing values

   1. Original files

       $ tree
       .
       ├── barcodes.tsv
       ├── tag_ATGCGTA.fasta
       ├── tag_CCCCCCC.fasta
       ├── tag_CGACGTC.fasta
       ├── tag_TCATAGC.fasta
       └── tag_TCTATAG.fasta
      

   2. Tab-delimited key-value file. Notice that CCCCCCC is not in it.

       $ cat barcodes.tsv
       CGACGTC S1
       ATGCGTA S2
       TCTATAG S4
       TCATAGC S3
      

   3. Renaming tag as sample name, marking unknown for non-existing tag.

       $ brename -e -p 'tag_(\w+)' -r '{kv}' -k barcodes.tsv -m unknown -d
       [INFO] read key-value file: barcodes.tsv
       [INFO] 4 pairs of key-value loaded
       [INFO] checking: [ ok ] 'tag_ATGCGTA.fasta' -> 'S2.fasta'
       [INFO] checking: [ ok ] 'tag_CCCCCCC.fasta' -> 'unknown.fasta'
       [INFO] checking: [ ok ] 'tag_CGACGTC.fasta' -> 'S1.fasta'
       [INFO] checking: [ ok ] 'tag_TCATAGC.fasta' -> 'S3.fasta'
       [INFO] checking: [ ok ] 'tag_TCTATAG.fasta' -> 'S4.fasta'
       [INFO] 5 path(s) to be renamed
      

3. Renaming PDF files for compatibility (moving from EXT4 to NTFS file system):

   1. Original files

       $ tree -Q
       .
       ├── "0000 Test.pdf"
       ├── "2016 SeqKit: A Cross-Platform and Ultrafast Toolkit for FASTA\342\201\204Q File Manipulation .pdf"
       ├── "metagenomics"
       │   ├── "2017 16S rRNA gene sequencing and healthy reference ranges for 28 clinically relevant microbial taxa from the human gut microbiome .pdf"
       │   ├── "2017 De novo assembly of viral quasispecies using overlap graphs .pdf"
       │   └── "2017 Tracking microbial colonization in fecal microbiota transplantation experiments via genome-resolved metagenomics .pdf"
       ├── "test2222222222222222222211111111122222222222222222233333333.pdf"
       └── "test.pdf"
      

   2. Removing "\n", "'", "?".

       $ brename -p "[\n'\?]" -r " " -R
       
      

   3. Replacing ":" with " _"

       $ brename -p ":" -r " _" -R
      

   4. Shortening file names (prefering spliting with space)

       $ brename -R -f .pdf -i -p "^(.{30,50})[ \.].*.pdf" -r "\$1.pdf" -d
      

   5. Result

       $ tree -Q
       .
       ├── "0000 Test.pdf"
       ├── "2016 SeqKit _ A Cross-Platform and Ultrafast.pdf"
       ├── "metagenomics"
       │   ├── "2017 16S rRNA gene sequencing and healthy.pdf"
       │   ├── "2017 De novo assembly of viral quasispecies using.pdf"
       │   └── "2017 Tracking microbial colonization in fecal.pdf"
       ├── "test2222222222222222222211111111122222222222222222233333333.pdf"
       └── "test.pdf"
      

FAQs

• Invalid result with capture variables

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License

MIT License

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