Possible to mass edit filenames?

Neil_Jones

This looks like it might do what the OP wants:

http://www.therenamer.com/ - theRenamer FEATURES:... - Fuzzy Logic sorts out the Show name, Season/Episode numbers (S1E1, 1x1 or 101 formats)."

Newcad

Personally I would use Irfanview for this kind of job.

https://www.irfanview.com/

It's a free graphics viewer/editor that has a batch conversion/rename tool, (in the File menu), which can batch rename any type of file not just images.
It's fairly easy to use. Here it would rename each of the files that have been added to the list to be renamed "whatever##" where the ## is a number starting with 01 and incrementing by one for each file. The filetypes will remain the same.
You can select groups and multiple files from 'Look in' to be added, just as you would select multiple files in File Explorer.
Have a play with it to try some of the settings and options before using it in earnest.
I'd also suggest that it's safest to create copies rather than overwriting the original. (Of course you did make a backup of the files before starting a job like this anyway- Didn't you).

cymruchris

Newcad said:

Personally I would use Irfanview for this kind of job.

https://www.irfanview.com/

It's free graphics viewer/editor that has a batch conversion/rename tool, (in the File menu), which can batch rename any type of file not just images.
It's fairly easy to use. Here it would rename each of the files that have been added to the list to be named "whatever##" where the ## is a number starting with one and incrementing by one for each file. The filetypes will remaun the same.
I'd suggest that it's safest to create copies rather than overwriting the original. (Of course you did make a backup of the files before starting a job like this anyway Didn't you).

That's what I use - but have a feeling that the batch rename only works for still images/jpegs - and not for movie files.... (You can see the screenshot there where the output format is greyed out).

400ixl

DullGreyGuy said:

So in the command window navigate to the folder in question and do:

ren video*.* S01E*.*

Will just sub the S01E for the Video in the filename

Command line rename with * wildcard was the first thing that came to my mind. No need for any GUI's or apps if all you want to do is some replacement.

Andy_L

cymruchris said:

I can't see any program being able to distinguish how many episodes there are in a series and then changing the first half of the renaming to match it from just the original file name of 'video1 2 3' etc. If it was just renaming 'video 1 2 3' to ABC101, ABC102, ABC103 for the entire list it's likely doable - but from what you've said I don't see a way of achieving it with the variables you have.

I reckon you could suck the existing file names into excel & then do a bit of jiggery pokery to get that to generate the new names & then rename via VBA

Newcad

cymruchris said:

Newcad said:

Personally I would use Irfanview for this kind of job.

https://www.irfanview.com/

It's free graphics viewer/editor that has a batch conversion/rename tool, (in the File menu), which can batch rename any type of file not just images.
It's fairly easy to use. Here it would rename each of the files that have been added to the list to be named "whatever##" where the ## is a number starting with one and incrementing by one for each file. The filetypes will remaun the same.
I'd suggest that it's safest to create copies rather than overwriting the original. (Of course you did make a backup of the files before starting a job like this anyway Didn't you).

That's what I use - but have a feeling that the batch rename only works for still images/jpegs - and not for movie files.... (You can see the screenshot there where the output format is greyed out).

No, I've used the batch rename on PDFs, doc, txt, xls, mp4, etc.

I've even done mixed filetypes in the same rename. eg. 01.doc, 02.doc, 03.txt, 04.pdf, and so on.

It's just changing the name so what the filetype or contents are doesn't matter.

The output format is greyed out in the screenshot because that's for batch conversion of images not for batch rename.

The formats it can convert from/to are of course image formats, eg changing a bmp to a jpg. (It doesn't do video conversion as far as I know. But wouldn't be surprised to see that added in future).

cymruchris

Newcad said:

cymruchris said:

Newcad said:

Personally I would use Irfanview for this kind of job.

https://www.irfanview.com/

It's free graphics viewer/editor that has a batch conversion/rename tool, (in the File menu), which can batch rename any type of file not just images.
It's fairly easy to use. Here it would rename each of the files that have been added to the list to be named "whatever##" where the ## is a number starting with one and incrementing by one for each file. The filetypes will remaun the same.
I'd suggest that it's safest to create copies rather than overwriting the original. (Of course you did make a backup of the files before starting a job like this anyway Didn't you).

That's what I use - but have a feeling that the batch rename only works for still images/jpegs - and not for movie files.... (You can see the screenshot there where the output format is greyed out).

No, I've used the batch rename on PDFs, doc, txt, xls, mp4, etc.

It's just changing the name so what the file contents are doesn't matter.

The output format is greyed out there because that's for batch conversion not for batch rename.

The formats it can convert to are of course image formats, eg changing a bmp to a jpg. (It doesn't do video conversion as far as I know. But wouldn't be surprised to see that added in future).

Good to know - I've only used it on my JPEG's so far....

B0bbyEwing

Newcad said:

Personally I would use Irfanview for this kind of job.

https://www.irfanview.com/

It's a free graphics viewer/editor that has a batch conversion/rename tool, (in the File menu), which can batch rename any type of file not just images.
It's fairly easy to use. Here it would rename each of the files that have been added to the list to be renamed "whatever##" where the ## is a number starting with 01 and incrementing by one for each file. The filetypes will remain the same.
You can select groups and multiple files from 'Look in' to be added, just as you would select multiple files in File Explorer.
Have a play with it to try some of the settings and options before using it in earnest.
I'd also suggest that it's safest to create copies rather than overwriting the original. (Of course you did make a backup of the files before starting a job like this anyway- Didn't you).

Many thanks!! This worked. 

Had a bit of a hiccup as I entered S03E01 in the name pattern but then realised I needed to enter S03E0# instead but once I did that it worked.

Hope nobody else feels put out I didn't go with their option. I selected this one as 1) it seemed the easiest for me to understand and 2) I already had Irfanview. 

facade

Get windows powertoys. Power rename does what I think you want.

It is what I use for adjusting names for plex, you have to think before you click apply, as sometimes you have to work in stages

Powertoys comes with the immeasurably useful file locksmith (what is using this file and preventing me from doing what I want?)  some useful utilities like a mouse cursor finder, and a load of junk.

I use plex too, and it can be a real pain!

Here's my tip- If you have The Film that goes with The TV Series and want it to show up with the series, name it as a special e.g. S00E99  then it will appear as a special that you can edit the name of. (otherwise a film will never show up if your library is set to TV series)

Cornucopia

Not sure I completely understand the logic, but I use this methodology (which allows for any logic to be added).

- Take a list of all the filenames (e.g. by using "DIR *.* /B >DIRL.TXT" at a DOS prompt or in a BAT file).

- Copy that list into a spreadsheet.

- Create whatever renaming logic you like.

- Create a set of "REN" commands - one for each file, with the old name and the new name.

- Save that list of REN commands to a new .BAT file.

- Run the BAT file.