Rename all files in a folder

[hitoxman]

Hi everyone,

I have a folder which contains all files exported from Dropbox. All these files have been named using the date when they are created. The names have the format as: YYYY-MM-DD HH.MM.SS. For example, 2023-05-31 15.29.51.

I just want to rename they as: YYYY_MM_DD. If there are multiple files with the same date, then just make it as: YYYY_MM_DD (1), YYYY_MM_DD (2), ...

Do you know how I can use a smart Python code to automate this task?

[deanhystad]

from pathlib import Path
import re

pattern = re.compile(r"(\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}) \d{2}\.\d{2}\.\d{2}")


def rename_file(file, new_name):
    """Rename file named YYYY-MM-DD HH.MM.SS.ext to  YYY-MM-DD (V).ext"""
    suffix = file.suffix
    new_name = str(file.parent / new_name)  # Append new file name to path
    version = 0
    while True:
        # Try to rename file.  May need to append version number.
        try:
            if version > 0:
                file.rename(f"{new_name} ({version}){suffix}")
            else:
                file.rename(f"{new_name}{suffix}")
            break
        except FileExistsError:
            version += 1


def rename_files_in_folder(folder_name):
    """Rename files in folder named YYYY-MM-DD HH.MM.SS.ext to  YYY-MM-DD (V).ext"""
    for file in Path(folder_name).iterdir():
        match = re.match(pattern, file.stem)  # Match just the name part.
        if match:
            rename_file(file, match.group(1))


rename_files_in_folder("some folder name")

[Gribouillis]

Do you know how I can use a smart Python code to automate this task?

Sure we know, we could also help you with your code, but if there is no code, then perhaps you could find a freelancer in the Jobs subforum. Do you want me to move the thread to this subforum?

[deanhystad]

Sorry Gribouillis. It's my lunch break and I'm bored.

[Pedroski55]

Why not keep the whole name, just put an underscore where the space is? Less bother than renaming and numbering

I had some .wma audio files with spaces, I wanted to convert them to .mp3 using ffmpeg. But first I had to get rid of the spaces in the names first, bash doesn't like spaces.

This one-liner bash script removes all spaces and puts an underscore:

find . -type f -name "* *.*" -exec bash -c 'mv -v "$0" "${0// /_}"' {} \;

Not Python, but very effective!

[deanhystad]

The space is not a problem. Notice that the desired file names also contain a space. The OP does not like the timestamp for some reason.

[ICanIBB]

from pathlib import Path
import re

pattern = re.compile(r"(\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}) \d{2}\.\d{2}\.\d{2}")


def rename_file(file, new_name):
    """Rename file named YYYY-MM-DD HH.MM.SS.ext to  YYY-MM-DD (V).ext"""
    suffix = file.suffix
    new_name = str(file.parent / new_name)  # Append new file name to path
    version = 0
    while True:
        # Try to rename file.  May need to append version number.
        try:
            if version > 0:
                file.rename(f"{new_name} ({version}){suffix}")
            else:
                file.rename(f"{new_name}{suffix}")
            break
        except FileExistsError:
            version += 1


def rename_files_in_folder(folder_name):
    """Rename files in folder named YYYY-MM-DD HH.MM.SS.ext to  YYY-MM-DD (V).ext"""
    for file in Path(folder_name).iterdir():
        match = re.match(pattern, file.stem)  # Match just the name part.
        if match:
            rename_file(file, match.group(1))


rename_files_in_folder("some folder name")

Do you test it?

[Pedroski55]

@deanhystad Oh, I understood the OP OK, just making a suggestion 1 line instead of 32.

Unless it is some homework or something, must be done exactly that way!

[Gribouillis]

must be done exactly that way!

You could also try specialized tools such as rename. Renaming files in a directory is a recurring task.

[Pedroski55]

Exactly!

When I was converting the .wma files to .mp3 I looked at many ways to get rid of the spaces in the names!

I installed rename.

find . -name "* *.wma" -type f | rename '\/ s/ /_/g'

Python is great and very useful, but sometimes bash script is better!