Renaming a lot of files

Hello,

I've made a 1000 copies of a file in the current directory. For example

RW.a_process
Copy of RW.a_process
Copy (2) of RW.a_process.....
Copy (1000) of RW.a_process

Would anybody know how I could rename them to be

RW.a_process
RW1.a_process
RW2.a_process....
RW1000.a_process

Many thanks

John

[Jan]

It would be *much* easier to create the file with the correct file name from the beginning. Considering "RW", "Copy of RW" and "Copy (i) of RW" is possible, but not necessary.

Answer 1

[Sahyadri Vibhu]

You could use http://www.bulkrenameutility.co.uk/Main_Intro.php if you are using WIndows or something similar if you are using other OS

[John]

Thanks for the help guys

Answer 2

[Image Analyst]

These functions may come in helpful:

dir() to get the existing filenames.
strfind() to find parentheses.
sscanf() or str2double() to extract the number (optional since you can work with the extracted string directly).
sprintf() to create the new name.
movefile() to make a copy with the new name.
delete() to delete the file with the old name.

[John]

hello,

This is what I've come up with so far. Would you know how I to save files incrementally?

Many thanks

% Get all .a_process files in the current folder

files = dir('*.a_process');

% Loop through each

for id = 1:length(files)

%save as RW1.a_process...RW2.a_process

end

[Walter Roberson]

http://matlab.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ#How_can_I_process_a_sequence_of_files.3F

[John]

Hello,

I kinda have it working, except it is saving it as .mat files? How would I keep the original file extension?

Thank you

% Get all .a_process files in the current folder

BaseName='RW';

files = dir('*.a_process');

% Loop through each

for k = 1:length(files)

FileName=[BaseName,num2str(k)]

save(Filename)

end

[Image Analyst]

Not very robust at all. You will encounter problems with that code. I suggest you look at my code.

Answer 3

[Image Analyst]

Allright, since you at least took a shot at it, here's the code:

files = {'RW.a_process',...
'Copy of RW.a_process',...
'Copy (2) of RW.a_process',...
'Copy (1000) of RW.a_process'}

for k = 1 : length(files)
  oldFileName = files{k}
  leftParenthesisLocation = strfind(oldFileName, 'Copy (');
  if leftParenthesisLocation >= 1
    % Handle cases of Copy (nnn) of RW.a_process
    rightParenthesisLocation = strfind(oldFileName(leftParenthesisLocation:end), ')');
    if rightParenthesisLocation > 1
      strNumber = oldFileName(leftParenthesisLocation+6:rightParenthesisLocation-1)
      % Get name to the right of the right parenthesis.
      newFileName = oldFileName(rightParenthesisLocation+5:end);
      [folder, baseFileName, ext] = fileparts(newFileName);
      newFileName = sprintf('%s%s%s', baseFileName, strNumber, ext);
      fprintf('New Filename = %s\n', newFileName); % Print blank line.
    end
  else
    % Handle case of Copy of RW.a_process
    leftLocation = strfind(oldFileName, 'Copy of ');
    if ~isempty(leftLocation)
      % Get name to the right of the "Copy of ".
      [folder, baseFileName, ext] = fileparts(oldFileName(leftLocation+8:end));
      strNumber = 1;
      newFileName = sprintf('%s%d%s', baseFileName, strNumber, ext);
      fprintf('New Filename = %s\n', newFileName); % Print blank line.
    end
  end
end

I think you can figure out where to put the movefile(oldFileName, newFileName) and delete(oldFileName) in. Make sure you call exist(newFileName, 'file') before you delete the old one otherwise you may blow away your only copy!

[John]

Hello,

Thank you for your help.

I'm still struggling to get it working. Do I have to type all the "Copy (n) of RW.a_process" file names at the start of the code?

I tried stepping through the code to determine where to put movefile(oldFileName, newFileName). Do I put it in twice after where it prints a blank line? because a newFileName has been determined.

Thank you

[Image Analyst]

No. that was just for the example. You can use dir(). See the FAQ: http://matlab.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ#How_can_I_process_a_sequence_of_files.3F

[John]

Do you mean

files = dir('*.a_process');

It giving me an error:

??? Cell contents reference from a non-cell array object.

Error in ==> rename at 3

oldFileName = files{k}

Thank you

[John]

Sorry, I can I ask you more more question please?

If I'm using this code on file with no file extensions, does it need to change, for example

Copy (2) of RW

Copy (3) of RW

I've stepped through the code line by line and it seems to be working fine except when it gets to movefile(oldFileName, newFileName) it gives an error

??? Error using ==> movefile

No matching files were found.

Error in ==> rename at 14

movefile(oldFileName, newFileName)

files = {'Copy (2) of RW'}

for k = 1 : length(files)

oldFileName = files{k}

leftParenthesisLocation = strfind(oldFileName, 'Copy (');

if leftParenthesisLocation >= 1

% Handle cases of Copy (nnn) of RW.a_cycle

rightParenthesisLocation = strfind(oldFileName(leftParenthesisLocation:end), ')');

if rightParenthesisLocation > 1

strNumber = oldFileName(leftParenthesisLocation+6:rightParenthesisLocation-1)

% Get name to the right of the right parenthesis.

newFileName = oldFileName(rightParenthesisLocation+5:end);

[folder, baseFileName, ext] = fileparts(newFileName);

newFileName = sprintf('%s%s%s', baseFileName, strNumber, ext);

fprintf('New Filename = %s\n', newFileName); % Print blank line.

movefile(oldFileName, newFileName)

end

end

end

[John]

Hello Image Analyst,

Sorry for bothering you again. If you have time to answer my questions quickly that would be great. It's nearly working just not quite there.

Thank you

John

[Image Analyst]

Did you include the file extension? It probably has one, even though you may be asking windows to hide it from you. I always turn off that windows option - I like knowing what extensions the files have, especially when you have files with the same base filename but different extensions. Try files = {'Copy (2) of RW.dat'} or whatever it is.