Remove select groups of characters from multiple filenames of varying names ( ie. remove 'yyz' from x yyz.jpg, xtb yyz.txt, xbg yyz.mp3) in mass?

May 4, 2008 5:32 AM

Is there a Windows program that will remove select words / characters from multiple file names? For example remove "meh" from Blhahheh meh meh.txt", "tantnran meh" (folder), and from "nopenot meh.wav"?

Pretty much it. I know there are tons of mass-renamers out there, but that being so, I'd hate to go through installing each one trying to find out if any of them have this functionality.

(no I don't have any scripting / programming knowledge to speak of)

posted by rasmerack to computers & internet (9 comments total)

irfanview has a batch rename function. (It's a great image viewer though.) It's not the most pleasant interface, but it does work. It takes some practice to get it right. I highly recommend doing your renames using the copy and rename to a new directory process. That way if you miss something, you haven't wrecked the source files. And I believe it works with all types of files, even ones it can't view.

I use it for this purpose because I already have it installed for image viewing.

But it has exactly what you want- a pattern recognizer and renamer. You can either replace one pattern with another, or simply excise a pattern. (By putting nothing in the "replace with" box.) And it has the ability to search and replace multiple patterns in one swoop.

Don't know if it does folders, however.

If you want, I can put together a mini tutorial later. Message me in memail.
posted by gjc at 5:54 AM on May 4

Rename master from JoeJoe Soft will do this. Better yet, it's freeware.

In the `remove from file names' you can enter a string and it will remove that from as many file names as you choose. It's a powerful program, and gives you many options for adding or removing characters. It also gives you a full preview so you can see what will happen before you click `rename'
posted by tomble at 6:03 AM on May 4

Lupas Rename does a great job with this, pretty straight-forward with many default options, and it's also freeware.

Also, for finding/replacing blocks of text within many files, BK Renamer [softpedia download link] does a fine job, but the interface is a little funny. (Hint: just use the find/replace instead of trying to tailor a profile)
posted by zachxman at 7:05 AM on May 4

I'm not sure about renaming the directories, but for the examples given where the file names prior to the "meh" are the same length, you could do this in DOS (from the directory where the files are present):

rename ???????*.* ???????.*
posted by nefariousj at 7:36 AM on May 4

per previous; the number of "?" in the second part of the command corresponds directly to the number of characters you will have in the resulting file names.

I noticed after posting that the first file in your example begins with 8 where the second is 7, so I would do a few trial runs on some junk files before attempting.
posted by nefariousj at 7:43 AM on May 4

Bulk Rename Utility

From your own tag, this is a very common previous question.
posted by meehawl at 8:45 AM on May 4

I use Oscar's renamer for this purpose, it loads the directory listing as a text file and you can manipulate it with typical "Find and Replace" commands like you'd use in word or something. It also does wildcards.
posted by glip at 10:53 AM on May 4

Well not quite meehawl, at least not exactly what I wanted to do. Lots of bulk renaming questions, but basic bulk renaming isn't what I was looking for as stated in my OP.

Incoming marking! Thanks folks, from the looks of it I've got more right answers than I needed. Much appreciated!
posted by rasmerack at 1:33 AM on May 5

Pretty much all the major programs mentioned in many of the questions and answers relating to bulk renaming, including but not limited to BRU, have GUIs that enable you to select offset ranges of letters for deletion, replacement, or increment substitution. Many of them also have command line features that let you script them. And most of them will have a regular expression mode for maximum flexibility.
posted by meehawl at 7:10 AM on May 14