How to change file name like file_name.mt2 to file_name.mt0002?

Question

I have bunch of files with this kind of file names and would like to rename them like this.

Current:

file_name.mt0  
file_name.mt1  
file_name.mt2  
file_name.mt3  
file_name.mt4  
file_name.mt5   
file_name.mt6  
file_name.mt7  
file_name.mt8  
file_name.mt9  
file_name.mt10  
file_name.mt11

New:

file_name.mt0000  
file_name.mt0001  
file_name.mt0002  
file_name.mt0003  
file_name.mt0004  
file_name.mt0005   
file_name.mt0006  
file_name.mt0007  
file_name.mt0008  
file_name.mt0009  
file_name.mt0010  
file_name.mt0011

Thanks in advance~~

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 03 '18 at 07:54

2

A script as follows can do that:

#! /usr/bin/ksh

typeset -Z4 N
find . -name 'file_name.mt*' | while read FN
do
   N=${FN#./file_name.mt}
   mv $FN file_name.mt$N
done

answered Sep 03 '18 at 07:54

Gerard H. Pille

2,350
9
13

Thanks for your post. I tried your script and I got this message. "typeset: -Z: invalid option". I'm not a script expert, so I'm looking for your help. – funfun Sep 03 '18 at 17:07
Oh. After I placed only your script in my run file, then it works!! Thanks a lot~~ – funfun Sep 03 '18 at 17:48

NiteRain · Answer 2 · 2018-09-09T18:32:58.353

0

#!/bin/bash

for i in file_name*; do 
    nf=`printf "file_name.mt%04d" ${i//[!0-9]/}`; 
    mv $i $nf;
done

Here is a bash script, that can do what you want. Removed the ls, and just using a glob. Good reference @Sparkhawk

edited Sep 09 '18 at 18:32

answered Sep 03 '18 at 09:20

NiteRain

308
1
5

Thanks. I ran your script where I have bunch of files with that file_name.mtxx, but only one file(file_name.mt0000) is left after running the script. – funfun Sep 03 '18 at 17:36
To generate test files: for i in {0..11}; do touch file_name.mt$i; done – NiteRain Sep 06 '18 at 03:46
Don't [parse ls](https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/128987/18887). – Sparhawk Sep 06 '18 at 04:55
@Sparhawk I guess you wanted me to use a find command? – NiteRain Sep 07 '18 at 13:40
1

@NiteRain There's a [link](http://mywiki.wooledge.org/ParsingLs) in my previously-linked question that gives more details, but apart from using `find`, you could just use `for i in file_name*;`. – Sparhawk Sep 07 '18 at 22:38

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 03 '18 at 15:40

0

Larry Walls simple but powerful rename command is the right choice:

rename 's/(\d+)$/sprintf("%04d",$1)/e' file*

answered Sep 03 '18 at 15:40

ingopingo

807
5
7

Thanks. I tried your command line in my linux shell, but nothing happens. Is it correct to have just "file*" at the end? – funfun Sep 03 '18 at 17:40
`file*` ist the glob expression for all files starting with "file". Try `rename -h`, it shows the help: `Usage: rename [ -h|-m|-V ] [ -v ] [ -n ] [ -f ] [ -e|-E perlexpr]*|perlexpr [ files ]` – ingopingo Sep 05 '18 at 07:44
Probably should mention that `rename` could be one of two tools. – Sparhawk Sep 06 '18 at 04:56
@Sparhawk You mention two tools, cool rename is one, and what is the other? – NiteRain Sep 07 '18 at 13:33
@NiteRain The other one is `rename` . See [here](https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/275254/why-is-the-rename-utility-on-debian-ubuntu-different-than-the-one-on-other-distr); people may get confused if they have the other one installed by default. – Sparhawk Sep 07 '18 at 22:36

How to change file name like file_name.mt2 to file_name.mt0002?

3 Answers3