Renaming Linux Files in Batches

Introduction

If we want to rename any file in Linux, we use “mv” command. But mv command can only rename one file at a time, it can not rename multiple files at one time in terminal. If we want to rename multiples files then we have to use mv command in different way . Also there are other commands available like “rename” , “mmv”, “renameutils” etc. Though some of these commands are not installed default in Linux , we need to install them separately.

In this artile, let us understand each command with some example.

Approach 1: Using “mv” command

We already know that mv command is used to rename single file but we can use mv command in bash script to rename multiple files.

Let us create some .txt files in Linux.

$ touch 1.txt 2.txt 3.txt 4.txt 5.txt 6.txt 7.txt 8.txt 9.txt 10.txt

Then use below bash script to rename all .txt files to .odt files.

Command

ls *.txt #Print all text file names

for file in `ls *.txt`;
do
   filename=`basename $file .txt`
   mv $file $filename.odt;
done

ls *.odt #Print all odt file names

Run the bash script

$ bash multiple_rename.sh

Output

10.txt  1.txt  2.txt  3.txt  4.txt  5.txt  6.txt  7.txt  8.txt  9.txt
10.odt  1.odt  2.odt  3.odt  4.odt  5.odt  6.odt  7.odt  8.odt  9.odt

Now, we can see all files are renamed to .odt files.

Command

$ ls

Output

10.odt  1.odt  2.odt  3.odt  4.odt  5.odt  6.odt  7.odt  8.odt  9.odt  multiple_rename.sh

Approach 2: Using “rename” command

We can take help from rename command to rename files in batches. If rename command is not present by default in Linux, then we can install it by using below command.

$ sudo apt install rename

Then we can issue “rename” in linux terminal and check below output to confirm if command is installed correctly.

Command

$ rename

Output

Usage:
   rename [ -h|-m|-V ] [ -v ] [ -n ] [ -f ] [ -e|-E *perlexpr*]*|*perlexpr*
   [ *files* ]

Let us now rename all .odt files to .docx files using below command.

Command

$ rename 's/\.odt/\.docx/' *.odt

Here is the end result of previous command.

$ ls

Output

10.docx  1.docx  2.docx  3.docx  4.docx  5.docx  6.docx  7.docx  8.docx  9.docx

Approach 3: Using “mmv” command

This command may not be installed by default in Linux.

If we get below message after giving “mmv” command , that means command is not installed

$mmv

The program 'mmv' is currently not installed. You can install it by typing:
sudo apt install mmv

Then we should install it.

$ sudo apt install mmv

Confirm the installation by providing command “mmv” in terminal.

Now, let us convert all .docx files to .png files using “mmv” command. We can use below syntax.

Command

$ mmv '*.docx' '#1.png'

Here is the end result of previous command.

$ls

Output

10.png  1.png  2.png  3.png  4.png  5.png  6.png  7.png  8.png  9.png

Approach 4: Using “qmv” command

To use qmv we need to install renameutils as this command is not be installed by default in Linux.

Command

$ sudo apt install renameutils

Now, let us give only “qmv” command.

$ qmv

Output

10.png                                  10.png
1.png                                   1.png
2.png                                   2.png
3.png                                   3.png
4.png                                   4.png
5.png                                   5.png
6.png                                   6.png
7.png                                   7.png
8.png                                   8.png
9.png                                   9.png
multiple_rename.sh                      multiple_rename.sh

[ Read 11 lines ]
^G Get Help     ^O Write Out    ^W Where Is     ^K Cut Text     ^J Justify      ^C Cur Pos      ^Y Prev Page    M-\ First Line
^X Exit         ^R Read File    ^\ Replace      ^U Uncut Text   ^T To Spell     ^_ Go To Line   ^V Next Page    M-/ Last Line

Here we can see two columns, left side is the original files names and right side is the modified files names. We can edit right side column as per our need. For example, we have modified two files to .odt

10.txt to 10.odt
1.png to 1.odt

See the change below

10.png                                  10.odt
1.png                                   1.odt
2.png                                   2.png
3.png                                   3.png
4.png                                   4.png
5.png                                   5.png
6.png                                   6.png
7.png                                   7.png
8.png                                   8.png
9.png                                   9.png
multiple_rename.sh                      multiple_rename.sh

Use required command to come out from that editor. Then we see below output.

Plan is valid.

10.png -> 10.odt
1.png -> 1.odt
  Regular rename

10.png -> 10.odt
1.png -> 1.odt

Let us confirm if the change is happened or not.

$ ls

Output

10.odt  1.odt  2.png  3.png  4.png  5.png  6.png  7.png  8.png  9.png

Conclusion

From this article, we have learned many new commands to rename linux file names in bulk. Based on our requirements we can use any of these commands. This also helps us to do the file renaming Linux in a faster way.