How to replace the spaces in filenames with underscore

Question

So im trying to rename all files in a directory, so that they do not have spaces. Im doing a bash script and im really not sure what to do, i've tried all kinds of quotes and escaping but im not sure what combo could work.

#!/bin/bash
#change empty spaces in filenames to underlineos
lsarray="$(echo "$(pwd)""/*")"
for i in $lsarray
do
    if [[ $i == *" "* ]] 
    then
        line=$(echo $i | sed 's/ \+/\_/g')
        j=$(echo $i | sed 's/ \+/\\ /g')
        mv "$j" "$line"
        echo "$i"
        echo "$j"
        echo "$line"
        fi
done

since mv needs "special variable expansion" im using double quotes on it. Any tips appreciated.

An easier solution might use `find . -type f -exec` in conjunction with `rename`. — phk, Nov 06 '16 at 15:17
The true word is underscore https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underscore (I have edited) — aurelien, Nov 06 '16 at 15:46

Konstantin Morenko · Answer 1 · 2016-11-06T15:52:26.393

7

Into bash for all the files into folder.

for name in *; do mv "$name" "${name// /_}"; done

The ${name/pattern/replace} replaces pattern to replace (Bash Parameter Expansion). If pattern starts with / (here pattern is / + Space), it replaces all the occurencies. Then mv renames file from name to new name with replaced spaces.

edited Nov 06 '16 at 15:52

answered Nov 06 '16 at 15:46

Konstantin Morenko

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score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 06 '16 at 15:37

4

With Perl's rename:

rename 'y/ /_/' *

answered Nov 06 '16 at 15:37

Cyrus

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How to replace the spaces in filenames with underscore

2 Answers2

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