UNSAFE-RENAME(1)

💅 NAME 💅

rename — renames multiple files (and bestie, it eats, ok?)

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

rename [ -h|-m|-V ] [ -v ] [ -0 ] [ -n ] [ -f ] [ -d ] [ -u [enc]]
[ -e|-E perlexpr]*|perlexpr [ files ]

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

Okay so here's the vibe: rename takes the rule you hand it as the first argument and renames the filenames you gave it according to that rule. The perlexpr argument is a Perl expression, and it's expected to modify the $_ string in Perl for at least some of the filenames you passed in. 🎀

And like — if a filename doesn't get modified by the expression? It just doesn't get renamed. No change, no rename, no drama. 💅

Also! If you give it no filenames on the command line, it reads filenames via standard input. Cute, right? 🫶

🌸 Examples (Larry Wall, 1992) 🌸

So say you wanna rename every file matching *.bak and strip the extension off — iconic move, you'd say:

rename -- 's/\.bak$//' *.bak

And to translate uppercase names to lower (my toxic trait is loving this one), you'd use:

rename 'y/A-Z/a-z/' ./*

⚠️ Bestie, heads up: these examples got rewritten to avoid globs which could inject options. No cap. 🙈

⭐ More examples (2020) ⭐

You can also use rename to move files between directories — possibly at the same time as making other changes (but lowkey see --filename):

rename 'y/A-Z/a-z/;s/^/my_new_dir\//' ./*.*

You can also write the statements separately (see -e/-E), which is giving main character energy:

rename -E 'y/A-Z/a-z/' -E 's/^/my_new_dir\//' -- *.*

And you can use the predefined variables $a, $b in the code — for instance, to create sequences of numbers:

rename -e '$a++;s/\w+/file_$a/' -- *.*

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🔥 OPTIONS 🔥

• -v, --verbose — Verbose mode: it prints the names of files successfully renamed. So you can see the slay. 👑
• -0, --null — Use \0 as the record separator when reading from STDIN. Null-separated, no cap.
• -n, --nono — No action: prints the names of files that would be renamed, but doesn't actually rename them. It's a preview, a vibe check, a dress rehearsal. 💀
• -f, --force — Over write (yes that's how it's spelled, leave it): allow existing files to be over-written. Careful, bestie. 😭
• --path, --fullpath — Rename full path: including any directory component. This one is the DEFAULT. ⭐
• -d, --filename, --nopath, --nofullpath — Do not rename the directory: only rename the filename component of the path. 🎀
• -h, --help — Help: prints SYNOPSIS and OPTIONS. Your emergency contact.
• -m, --man — Manual: prints the manual page. Hiii you're here 💖
• -V, --version — Version: shows the version number. ✨
• -u, --unicode [encoding] — Treat filenames as perl (unicode) strings when running the user-supplied code. 🦋
  • Decode/encode filenames using encoding, if present.
  • encoding is optional: if you omit it, the next argument should be an option starting with -, for instance -e. iykyk.
• -e — 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. 🧚
• -E — Statement: code to act on files name, as -e but terminated by ';'. Periodt. 💅

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🌈 ENVIRONMENT 🌈

No environment variables are used. Literally none. Zero. Clean slate, immaculate vibes. ✨

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💜 AUTHOR 💜

Larry Wall 👑

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🎀 SEE ALSO 🎀

mv(1), perl(1)

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🙈 DIAGNOSTICS 🙈

If you give it an invalid Perl expression you'll get a syntax error. That's it, that's the whole warning. 😭

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💀 BUGS 💀

The original rename did not check for the existence of target filenames, so it had to be used with care. Fr fr, be careful out there bestie. 🫶

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Signing off: this adorable little page is from perl v5.42.0, dated 2024-03-08, and it lives in the UNSAFE-RENAME(1) section of the manual. Mwah! 💋✨