Bash script to change filename

Question

I have files with this format: ddmmyyyyRANDOM.mp3

and i want to rename them in: yyyy-mm-dd-RANDOM.mp3

RANDOM is a random string which can include spaces. not a homework question. I am struck here and i tried various regex but coudnt find out. I need to write bash script

have a look at the perl rename utility that has all the beautiful power of perl-regexps! — Fredrik Pihl
– Fredrik Pihl, Commented Oct 14, 2014 at 9:56

Ashish · Accepted Answer · 2014-10-14 10:13:20Z

2

I would break in parts by method of substring

 filename="ddmmyyyyRANDOM.mp3"
part1=${filename:0:8} #this should get you ddmmyyy
part2=${filename:9:6} #this should get you RANDOM
filenamenew=$part1$part2".mp3"
mv $fileneme $filenamenew

RUN in a loop if you have more than 1 filename

answered Oct 14, 2014 at 10:13

Ashish

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3 Comments

Fredrik Pihl Over a year ago

RANDOM is well, a random not non-fixed-length string to subscripting doesn't work here

Ashish Over a year ago

Well if you get the length of the string at start then its possible

Ashish Over a year ago

Random part would be total length - 8 - 4 (-4 because .mp3 is 4 letters)

Fazlin · Accepted Answer · 2014-10-14 09:49:02Z

0

Try this:

FILE="23022014hello world.mp3"
mv "$FILE" "$(echo "$FILE" | sed 's/\([0-9]\{2\}\)\([0-9]\{2\}\)\([0-9]\{4\}\)\(.*\)/\3-\2-\1-\4/')"

It cuts the first 2 numbers, second 2 numbers, next 4 numbers and remaining characters separately and arranges according to your requirement.

answered Oct 14, 2014 at 9:49

Fazlin

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Comments

Farvardin · Accepted Answer · 2014-10-14 10:22:43Z

0

try this:

for file in *; do
    new=$(echo "$file" | sed -r 's/^([0-9]{2})([0-9]{2})([0-9]{4})(.*)$/\3-\2-\1-\4/')
    mv "$file" "$new" 
done

more about regex HERE

answered Oct 14, 2014 at 10:22

Farvardin

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Comments

Fredrik Pihl · Accepted Answer · 2014-10-14 11:08:28Z

0

Use the rename utility

touch 12021960RANDOM.mp3 "01041973 random with spaces.mp3"

$ rename -n 's/^(\d{2})(\d{2})(\d{4})/$3-$2-$1-/' *.mp3
01041973 random with spaces.mp3 renamed as 1973-04-01- random with spaces.mp3
12021960RANDOM.mp3 renamed as 1960-02-12-RANDOM.mp3

When you're happy with the output, remove the -n part to actually perform the rename

answered Oct 14, 2014 at 11:08

Fredrik Pihl

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