Renaming files and directories is a common task in Linux, and the command line provides a powerful and efficient way to perform these operations. In this article, we’ll explore the various commands and examples for renaming files and directories using the terminal.

Using the mv Command

The mv command in Linux is not only for moving files but also for renaming them. Here’s a basic syntax for renaming a file:

mv old_filename new_filename

For example, the following command will rename file.txt to newfile.txt.

mv file.txt newfile.txt

Batch Renaming with the rename Command

The rename command is handy for batch renaming files based on a pattern. It uses regular expressions to match and replace file names.

rename 's/old_prefix/new_prefix/' *.txt

In this example, all files with the .txt extension will have their names changed by replacing ‘old_prefix’ with ‘new_prefix’.

Renaming Directories

To rename a directory, you can use the mv command similarly to renaming files.

mv old_directory new_directory

This command will rename ‘old_directory’ to ‘new_directory’.

Appending a Prefix or Suffix

If you want to add a prefix or suffix to a file or directory name, you can use a combination of commands like mv and echo.

mv file.txt prefix_$(basename file.txt)

This appends ‘prefix_’ to the beginning of the file name.

Replacing Spaces with Underscores

Dealing with spaces in file names can be challenging. To replace spaces with underscores, you can use the rename command.

rename 's/ /_/g' *

This command replaces all spaces with underscores for all files in the current directory.

Using the find Command for Complex Renaming

The find command, combined with the exec option, can be powerful for renaming files based on various conditions.

find . -type f -name "*.jpg" -exec mv {} {}_backup \;

This command finds all JPEG files in the current directory and adds “_backup” to their names.

Renaming with Shell Parameter Expansion

Shell parameter expansion provides a concise way to manipulate variables, which can be useful for renaming files.

file="example.txt"
mv "$file" "${file%.txt}_new.txt"

This command renames ‘example.txt’ to ‘example_new.txt’ by leveraging parameter expansion to remove the ‘.txt’ extension.

Interactive Renaming with mmv

The mmv command allows interactive renaming of files and directories using wildcards.

mmv "*.old" "#1.new"

This command renames all files with the ‘.old’ extension to have the same name but with ‘.new’.