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Batch rename files

This command opens the "Batch rename" dialog as shown below, which searches for files by criteria, gathers information of the files and batch renames the files according to specified rules.

This is a one of the most useful features of VIPBase because it offers a fast searching (compared with Windows searching) and multiple options for renaming files.

Warning: Some operations may delete or overwrite files.
Please always BACKUP your files before proceeding further.
The author will NOT be liable for any data loss while using or misusing this function.

File searching and handling

• Search for files by criteria

  1. At the top of the dialog, select the "Folder" option
  2. In the "Folder or the list file name" box, input the folder that needs to be searched.
  3. Set the searching criteria.
     • In the "Prefix" box, input the string that must appear in the prefix of a file name. For example, if your input is "img", files with prefix such as "img01", "dc_img_0001", "00img" will be found. If you leave this box blank, any prefix is valid.
     • In the "Extension" box, input the extension you want to include or exclude. For example, if you want to find all ".jpg" and ".tif" files and exclude all ".bmp" files, input "jpg;tif;-bmp". If you want to find any files except all ".bmp" files, input "-bmp". Leaving this box blank means any extension is valid.
     • In the "Size(>=)" box, input the lower limit (in bytes) of the file size. Any file size will be valid if the number is "0".
  4. Click the "Load" button and file names that meet the criteria will appear in the "list of source files" box. Each line is a file name with full path. The names are sorted in ascending order. The total number of the files that are found is displayed in the title of the dialog.

• Load files from a text list

  Instead of searching for files, you can load a list of files from a text file, which saves time if you have saved the searching result previously.
  1. At the top of the dialog, select the "File" option
  2. In the "Folder or the list file name" box, specify the text file that contains the list of files.
  3. Click the "Load" button and the list will appear in the "list of source files" box. The total number of the files is shown in the title of the dialog.

• Edit the list of source files

  The "list of source files" box is editable. For example, you can remove files that you don't want to include; you can add files or you can change the order of files. You can paste text from the Windows clipboard into this box, which is handy if you prefer to edit the list in your favorite text editor. Note that if the size of the text in the clipboard is too large, not all contents will be pasted due to some memory limit set by Windows.

• Change the order of the source files

  You can sort the list or randomize it by clicking the "Sort" or the "Randomize" button.

• Open the current file

  The current file is the line with the blinking cursor. For example, in the figure shown above, the current file is the one in the red rectangle. You can open the file with the associated program by clicking the "Open file" button or open the folder containing the file by clicking the "Open folder" button.

• Delete source files

  Clicking the "Delete files" button will delete all the files listed in the "list of source files" box. VIPBase will ask you to confirm this operation. Warning: The files will not be moved to the Windows recycle bin. Once they are deleted, they can not be restored. Please make sure you really want to delete these files.

• Copy the list of source files

  Clicking the "Copy content" button will save the content of the "list of source files" box into a text file in the system temporary folder (e.g. "c:\temp\" on my computer). The file name has the format "rename_yyyy_mm_dd_hh_mm_ss.txt" (e.g. "rename_2005_08_11_23_55_40.txt"). VIPBase then calls the associated program to open the text file.

• Clear the list of source files

  Clicking the "Clear" button will clear the content of the "list of source files" box.

Gather information about the listed files

• Get count and total size of files with the same extension

  Click the "Ext info" button. VIPBase will group files according to their extensions first and then count and calculate the total file size of each group. Each line shows one extension, the number of files with that extension and the total file size, respectively. The extensions are sorted by total file size in descending order. The following example shows the first 10 extensions in the folder "C:\Windows\System32\" on my computer.

  
  

• Find out the latest files

  Click the "Date info" button. VIPBase will find out the files with the latest modification date in the root folder as well as in each of its subfolders. Each line shows the current folder, the date and the name of the latest file. The following example shows some latest files in "C:\Windows\System32\" on my computer.

  

  Note that if you want to search the lower level folders, set a larger depth in the "Depth" box.

• Get the size information of a folder

  Click the "Size info" button. VIPBase will get the count and total size of files in the root folder as well as in each of its subfolders. Each line shows the current folder, the count of files including/excluding its subfolders, the total file size including/excluding its subfolders. The following example shows some searching result of "C:\Windows\System32\" on my computer.

  

  Note that if you want to search the lower level folders, set a larger depth in the "Depth" box.

Batch renames files

• Rename by a list

  This option provides a very flexible way to batch rename files. You can edit your own list of the desired file names in your favorite text editor and load it into VIPBase.
  1. Select the "Rename by a list" option as the renaming rule.
  2. Specify the text file that contains the list of the desired file names and click the "Load list" button to load the list into the "desired file names after renaming" box.

     Each line on this list is the new file name without full path. Note that the "desired file names after renaming" box is editable, which means you can paste text into that box, but if the size of the text in the clipboard is too large, not all contents will be pasted due to some memory limit set by Windows.

  3. Specify the output folder in the "output folder" box. If it is empty, the source file path will not be changed. For example, the following are the source file list and the desired file list.

     

     If the output folder is empty, the actual new file names will be

     

     Otherwise, if the output folder is "C:\output", the actual new file names will be

     

     Note that if the source list and the new list have different number of files, the smaller number will be considered.
     

  4. Click the "Rename" button to start the renaming process.
  5. You can change the case of the new file names to lower case, upper case or capitalized.
  6. If you want to keep a copy of the source files, uncheck the "Delete source" option. Otherwise, the source file will be deleted after renaming.
  7. Warning: these operations may overwrite or delete files and produce undesired result. For example, if you want to rename file A to B, but in fact, a file with name B also appears later on the source list. The renaming of file A will replace the original file B. So, always be careful when renaming files and alway backup your files before the renaming process.

• Rename by a template

  This option is suitable for file names that exhibit a pattern such as "prefix-number-suffix.extension".
  1. Select the "Rename by a template" option as the renaming rule.
  2. Specify the prefix, suffix, the number of digits, the starting number and extension of the new names. The preview shows you dynamically what the new name of the first file on the list will be when you are changing your input. Note that if you leave the extension blank, the original extension of each file will be used.
  3. Again, specify the output folder in the "output folder" box and click the "Rename" button to start the renaming process.

• Renumber files

  This option does the zero-padding to file names. For example, if the file names are "abc1.jpg", "abc2.jpg", ..., "abc999.jpg" and you want to change to four digits, the result will be "abc0001.jpg", "abc0002.jpg", ..., "abc0999.jpg".
  1. Select the "Renumber" option as the renaming rule.
  2. Specify the number of digits after zero-padding
  3. Again, specify the output folder in the "output folder" box and click the "Rename" button to start the renaming process.

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VIPBase © 2006 Fengjun Lv

Last update: 08/01/2006 (check html)