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user824808
Asked: 2018-05-03 01:25:16 +0800 CST

How can I install pyrenamer for bionic?

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pyrenamer is an excellent bulk file renaming tool. But I could not find it in the repository for 18.04 Bionic Beaver or a PPA.
I use it all the time to rename photo images before importing into the Shotwell image library management system.

In particular, I use a pattern to get names in the form yyyymmdd including a day of the week (it is so much easier to remember the day of the week one visited the zoo) and the model name of the camera used. The ~ symbol helps if one wants to search and replace to revert to the original file image name. See: 

{imageyear}{imagemonth}{imageday}_{imagedaysimp}_{imagehour}{imageminute}{imagesecond}_{cameramodel}~{1}

If a PPA becomes available for 18.04 please inform here.

files batch-rename 18.04

6 Answers

  1. This problem can also be solved natively in 18.04 by installing another similar GUI batch renamer app from the default Ubuntu repositories. GPRename easily can replace, remove, insert, delete and number consecutively files and directories. GPRename can be installed in 18.04 and later with the following command:

    sudo apt install gprename

    To get the functionality of reading EXIF metadata tags in 18.04 install renrot. renrot can rename and rotate files according to EXIF tags. renrot can be installed in 18.04 and later with the following command: 

    sudo apt install renrot

    enter image description here

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  2. I found a deb file here which seems to have installed ok in 18.04. So my normal service is resumed.
    I used the deb file link at the bottom of this page which installed fine with double click. https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pyrenamer/0.6.0-1.2/+build/8439869

    However, as helpfully suggested below a better and more comprehensive source of the deb is available on this page: https://packages.ubuntu.com/artful/all/pyrenamer/download

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  3. I like using pyrenamer because it is so easy and does not involve any tricky coding. As explained above, it is good for easily renaming images with the day of the week. But it does not handle EXIF data for mts movies shot with my "dmc-gx7" camera so I was persuaded by seeing: 

    https://stackoverflow.com/questions/25152995/linux-shell-renaming-files-to-creation-time

    to getting my hands slightly dirty with EXIFTOOL and the ideas from the linked page to bulk rename with a script to get the day of the week and MY camera model into mts video file names. A variation can handle jpgs. See:

    for f in *.mts
do
mv -n "$f" "$(exiftool -d "%Y%m%d_%a_%H%M%S" -DateTimeOriginal "$f" | awk '{print $4"_dmc-gx7~"}')"$f""
done
ls | while read upName; do loName=`echo "${upName}" | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]'`; mv "$upName" "$loName"; done

    The latter part switches to lower case and I forget where I found that trick. I'm a newbie so this was several hours work to achieve.

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  4. Before upgrading to bionic I used PyRenamer and was very pleased with it, alternatives such as those mentioned above just did not cut it, so today I tried out Ant Renamer with Wine 3.0.2 and to my delight it worked just fine ; even easier to use than PyRenamer. Here is the download link (I downloaded the installer): https://www.fosshub.com/Ant-Renamer.html

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  5. I just installed it under xubuntu 18.04 I used the bottom link under built files on the web page below. Works fine.

    https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pyrenamer/0.6.0-1.2/+build/8439869

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  6. I still use pyrenamer for adhoc tasks because it is so easy and powerful. But there is now a better tool for my original requirement raised above of bulk renaming new photos and videos with "day of the week" included along with date, time taken and camera used.

    Rapid Photo Downloader has added the feature for dotw. I should have preferred an option for all lower case such as "mon" instead of "Mon". But I can live with it as is and adding a switch to lower case to my photo workflow is not difficult but not worth the effort to change just one character.

    For videos, it does not rename with the camera model but I can live without that too. I can easily bulk rename with nautilus using a right click.

    I really like RPD because it is really fast and can automatically add a backup copy during the download. I send this to an external HDD. I then work with confidence on the imported photos/videos and reformat the camera SD card in the knowledge that if I make a mistake, there is a backup.

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