RenameRegex (RR)

Copyright © 2022 Nic Jansma nicj.net

Introduction

RenameRegex (RR) is a Windows command-line bulk file and directory renamer, using regular expressions. You can use it as a simple file renamer or with a complex regular expression for matching and replacement. See the Examples section for details.

Usage

RR.exe file-match search replace [/p] [/r] [/f] [/e] [/files] [/dirs]
    /p: pretend (show what will be renamed)
    /r: recursive
    /c: case insensitive
    /f: force overwrite if the file already exists
    /e: preserve file extensions
/files: include only files
 /dirs: include only directories
        (default is to include files only, to include both use /files /dirs)
   /fr: use regex for file name matching instead of Windows glob matching

You can use .NET regular expressions for the search and replacement strings, including substitutions (for example, "$1" is the 1st capture group in the search term).

Examples

Simple rename without a regular expression:

RR.exe * .ext1 .ext2

Renaming with a replacement of all "-" characters to "_":

RR.exe * "-" "_"

Remove all numbers from the file names:

RR.exe * "[0-9]+" ""

Rename files in the pattern of "124_xyz.txt" to "xyz_123.txt":

RR.exe *.txt "([0-9]+)_([a-z]+)" "$2_$1"

Rename directories (only):

RR * "-" "_" /dirs

Rename files and directories:

RR * "-" "_" /files /dirs

Rename files and directories within a path with environment variables:

RR %temp%\test\%username%\f*.csv "-" "_" /files

Apply a regular expression to the glob pattern files and directories:

RR a_\d.txt "a_" "a_0" /fr

Exit Codes

• 0: Total # items listed, # done
• 1: Usage shown
• 2: No files or directories match!
• 3: Unknown exception

Version History

• v1.0 - 2012-01-30: Initial release
• v1.1 - 2012-12-15: Added /r option
• v1.2 - 2013-05-11: Allow /p and /r options before or after main arguments
• v1.3 - 2013-10-23: Added /f option
• v1.4 - 2018-04-06: Added /e option (via Marcel Peeters)
• v1.5 - 2020-07-02: Added support for directories, added length-check (via Alec S. @Synetech)
• v1.6 - 2021-05-22: Added /c support for case insensitivity (via Alec S. @Synetech)
• v1.6.1 - 2021-06-12: Fix /r for sub-dirs
• v1.7 - 2022-02-01: Added /fr option to apply a regex to file matches (instead of Windows glob pattern)
• v1.8 - 2022-02-11: Refactor code: no more MaxPath limit with .NET Framework 4.6.2-4.8 (length-check removed), added path and environment variables to file matches if no /fr option, changed exit codes, solved few issues (via Dmitrii Evdokimov)

Credits

• Nic Jansma (https://nicj.net)
• Marcel Peeters
• Alec S. (http://synetech.freehostia.com/)
• Dmitrii Evdokimov (https://dievdo.ru/en/)

License

MIT License