filename-changing application

[Jean Jordaan <Jean -at- mosaicsoftware -dot- com>]

Hi Susan

> Somehow an associate has gotten herself into a situation 
> where she needs to change the filename on a humongous number 
> of files. 

If you have access to a Unix-ish commandline environment (which
includes things like the Cygnus system for Windows [1]), you 
can use this shell script: 

-----------cut-----------
#!/bin/sh
# rename : rename multiple files

if [ $# -lt 3 ] ; then
    echo
    echo "Usage: rename \"pattern\" \"replacement\" files..."
    echo
    exit 1
fi

OLD=$1 ; NEW=$2 ; shift ; shift

for file in $*
do
    new=`echo ${file} | sed s/${OLD}/${NEW}/g`
    echo "Renaming ${file} to $new"
    mv ${file} $new
done
-----------cut-----------

This way, you can use regular expressions for the old and new names .. 

-- 
jean -at- mosaicsoftware -dot- com                        . ... .... ///\\oo//\\\
Technical Writer