For each file listed in namefile whose name contains oldpattern, rename the file, replacing oldpattern with newpattern.

--replace - replace oldpattern with newpattern

--ltruncate - truncate filename before and including first occurence of newpattern
 
--chblanks - replace blanks with newpattern

--noblanks - remove all blanks

--camel - Change each nonblank substring to camel case ie. first letter capitalized, all other letters in lowercase, and remove all blanks.

oldpattern - A substring of the filename to be replaced

newpattern - A substring to replace the oldpattern. If empty, the target is simply deleted from the name. The empty string must be enclosed in single quotes ie. ''

namefile - a file listing filenames in the current working directory to be changed . At least 1 file must be specified. Each name must be on a separate line.

This command is intended to be a workalike for the Linux rename command. bl_rename.py uses the Python os.replace command to rename files.

1) Given the following files in the current working directory, as listed in namefile:

namefile:
testfile1.text
testfile2.text
testfile3.text
testfile4.text

bl_rename.py --replace text txt namefile

changes the names to

testfile1.txt
testfile2.txt
testfile3.txt
testfile4.txt

bl_rename.py --replace ile '' namefile

changes the names to

testf1.txt
testf2.txt
testf3.txt
testf4.txt

2) Given
(This is only slightly contrived, but true in the sense that the original filenames are lost amongst the junk added to them. The filenames produced when Desire To Learn creates a Zip archive are MUCH longer!)

namefile:

00123 45678 Download Dec. 12, 2024 518 PM-file1.txt
45361 45678 Download Dec. 12, 2024 518 PM-file2.txt

bl_rename.py --ltruncate PM- namefile

changes the names to

file1.txt
file2.txt

3) Given

namefile:
blanks in file names is a bad practice.docx
Because you have to escape file names using quotes.docx

bl_rename.py --noblanks namefile

results in

blanksinfilenamesisabadpractice.docx
Becauseyouhavetoescapefilenamesusingquotes.docx

while

bl_rename.py --camel namefile

results in

BlanksInFileNamesIsABadPractice.docx
BecauseYouHaveToEscapeFileNamesUsingQuotes.docx

Dr. Brian Fristensky
Department of Plant Science
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, MB  Canada R3T 2N2
brian.fristensky@umanitoba.ca
http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~frist