Rename Multiple Files and Directories with mvdir

Productivity Sauce

Mar 19, 2014 GMT

Dmitri Popov

Here is a problem: you need to give a bunch of DSC_xxx.JPG files meaningful names like Berlin_May_1981.JPG, Tokyo_Trip_1973.JPG, and so on. The mvdir Bash shell script dramatically simplifies this otherwise tedious task. The script scans the specified path and opens a list of all found files and directories in a default text editor. Edit then the names, and the script automatically renames the modified files and directories when you close the editor.

To install the script on your system, create a new file in a text editor, paste the code in the file, and save under the mvdir name in the /usr/local/bin directory. Make then the script executable using the chmod +x ~/usr/local/bin/mvdir command. Alternatively, you can put the script into the ~/bin directory which is automatically added to your path. If this is not the case, add the following code to the ~/.bashrc file:

if [ -d $HOME/bin ]; then
    PATH=$PATH:$HOME/bin
fi

To use the script, run the mvdir path/to/dir command, where path/to/dir is the path to the directory containing the files you want to rename.

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