J-Renamer

Batch file renaming utility written in Perl.

See j-renamer.pl --help from commandline for usage, examples and tips.

Usage

j-renamer.pl <input_pattern> <options>

Options:

--debug             : Must be first option if you want to see debug info.
<input_pattern>     : Shell input pattern. (only *NIX / Mac, Not Windows)
--dry-run           : Show what would be renamed without doing actual rename.
--in:"<pattern>"    : Explicit input pattern - use quotes.
                      Advanced globing patterns are supported:
                      Eg: To select files 000_* - 045_* use this pattern:
                        "0[0-3][0-9]_.* 04[0-5]_.*"
--out:<pattern>     : Use # (sequence number) to build an output pattern.
                      Defaults to "#_" which will prefix files with:
                          1_,  2_,  3_
                      Multiple "##" will force padding with zeros:
                         01_, 02_, 03_ ...
--start:<number>    : Begin sequencing output file names from start number.
                      Defaults to "1".
                      Can be combined with other options to only rename a
                      particular subset of files while keeping original order
                      and numbering. See ADVANCED USAGE below.
--ext:<upper|lower> : Make file extension upper or lower case.
                      By default will not change file extension.
--time_zone:TZ      : Provide a time zone used to calculate the creation /
                      modification time of the file.  Time Zone TZ can be
                      "local" or any location listed here:
                      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tz_database_time_zones#List
                      If exif date is found in an image, TZ will be ignored.
                      The date is ALWAYS prefixed to the output pattern.
                      NOTE: THIS IS EXPERIMENTAL AND WILL PROBABLY CHANGE.

Examples:

j-renamer.pl *.*                     : Prefix all files sequentially.
j-renamer.pl --in:"*.jpg" --out:#_Me : 1_Me.jpg, 2_Me.jpg, 3_Me.jpg ...
j-renamer.pl *.JPG --ext:lower       : 3_.jpg, 4_.jpg, 5_.jpg ...
j-renamer.pl *.jpg --start:3         : 3_.jpg, 4_.jpg, 5_.jpg ...
j-renamer.pl *.c --out:"## X"        : "01 X.c", "02 X.c", "03 X.c" ...
j-renamer.pl *.jpg --out:Foo_#       : Foo_1.jpg, Foo_2.jpg, F00_3.jpg ...
j-renamer.pl X.jpg --time_zone:America/Boise --out:_#_X: 2016-01-22_0_X.jpg ...

Advanced usage:

1. Select just a few files and number / rename only those:

   Given 11 files: 01.txt, 02.txt, 03.txt, 04.txt, 05.txt, 06.txt, 07.txt, 08.txt, 09.txt, 10.txt, 11.txt.

   Rename files 6-11, adding the word Nice like so: "03_Nice", etc, but keep in same order:

    j-renamer.pl --in:"0[6-9]* 1[01]*" --out:"#_Nice" --start:6
   

   Result: 06_Nice.txt, 07_Nice.txt, 08_Nice.txt, 09_Nice.txt, 10_Nice.txt, 11_Nice.txt

   Other files are unchanged.

2. Script will recognize files that have same name, but different extension and keep them grouped.
   This is common with photography where you may have both jpg and raw versions of a photo.

   Given these files: 1.jpg, 1.raw, 2.jpg, 3.jpg, 3.raw

     j-renamer.pl --in:"*.jpg *.raw" --out:"Pic_#"
   

   Result: Pic_1.jpg, Pic_1.raw, Pic_2.jpg, Pic_3.jpg, Pic_3.raw

Additional tips:

1. The --start option only applies to the resulting file names, not the input names.
   The input file names are completely controlled by the input pattern so this may lead to unexpected behavior:

   Given these files: 1.jpg, 2.jpg, 3.jpg

    j-renamer.pl --in:"*.jpg" --out:"#" --start:4
   

   Result: 4.jpg, 5.jpg, 6.jpg

   Also note that the file order is always alphabetical, so:

   Given these files: 8.jpg, 9.jpg, 10.jpg

    j-renamer.pl --in:"*.jpg" --out:"#"
   

   The numbering will be messed up:

    10.jpg will be renamed to 1.jpg
     8.jpg will be renamed to 2.jpg
     9.jpg will be renamed to 3.jpg
   

   Solution is to pad 8 and 9 with zeros first so the order is preserved:

    j-renamer.pl --in:"[8-9].jpg" --out:"##" --start:8
   

   Result:

    8.jpg will be renamed to 08.jpg
    9.jpg will be renamed to 09.jpg
   

   (you can of course rename 8.jpg and 9.jpg by hand to get the same result)

   Then, continue with the original rename:

    j-renamer.pl --in:"*.jpg" --out:"#"
   

   Result:

    08.jpg will be renamed to 1.jpg
    09.jpg will be renamed to 2.jpg
    10.jpg will be renamed to 3.jpg
   

2. There is no --end parameter, the script just sequentially renames all files identified by the --in pattern.

3. All files are renamed according to the output pattern, therefore existing file names will be destroyed.

   Given these files: dog.jpg, man.jpg, pizza.jpg

    j-renamer.pl --in:"*.jpg" --out:"#-Ouch"
   

   Result: 1-Ouch.jpg, 2-Ouch.jpg, 3-Ouch.jpg

   This is why you should rename / number all files with j-renamer before you start adding individual names one at a time.

History

This script was first developed on Windows XP using archaic cmd shell commands. It was later re-written in perl with many new features and bug fixes.

The original version can be found here: https://sourceforge.net/projects/j-renamer/