Rename Finder Items by Pattern

An action for Mac OS X Automator, version 10.6. To install, just double-click.

Works similarly to the built in Rename Finder Items action, but uses a wildcard pattern and a substitution pattern to selectively choose parts of the current file name to use in the new file name.

In the search pattern, use one or more wildcards, an asterisk "*", to match parts of the original file name and tokens in the replacement. The tokens are dollar signs "$" followed by the number of the wildcard match in the search pattern.

It's easier to picture than describe.

For example, assume this file name: abc - xyz.123 (d).png And this search pattern: * - *.* (*)

This will yield four matches that can be used in the replacement pattern like so:

• $1 = abc
• $2 = xyz
• $3 = 123
• $4 = d

So, this replacement pattern: Type $4 Section $3 Bldg $2 in Region $1 Give this result: Type d Section 123 Bldg xyz in Region abc

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Daniel Calcoen for the tweaks to the Xcode project! Now builds and runs in the latest Xcode and OS X.