rename - renames multiple files
rename [ -h|-m ] [ -v ] [ -n ] [ -f ] [ -e perlexpr]*|perlexpr [ files ]
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 $_
string in Perl for at least some of the filenames specified.
If a given filename is not modified by the expression, it will not be
renamed.
If no filenames are given on the command line, filenames will be read
via standard input.
For example, to rename all files matching *.bak to strip the extension,
you might say
rename 's/\e.bak$//' *.bak
To translate uppercase names to lower, you'd use
rename 'y/A-Z/a-z/' *
Verbose: print names of files successfully renamed.
No action: print names of files to be renamed, but don't rename.
Over write: allow existing files to be over-written.
Help: print SYNOPSIS and OPTIONS.
Manual: print manual page.
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.
No environment variables are used.
Larry Wall
mv(1), perl(1)
If you give an invalid Perl expression you'll get a syntax error.
The original
rename
did not check for the existence of target filenames,
so had to be used with care.
I hope I've fixed that (Robin Barker).