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Accepted
Markus Gratis
Asked: 2017-01-19 21:03:40 +0800 CST

Remove last n characters of filenames for all files in a directory

  • 772

How can I remove the last 12 characters of all files' filenames in a certain directory via Terminal?

command-line

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    Using bash parameter expansion:

    for i in ?????????????*; do echo mv -i "$i" "${i%????????????}"; done

    remove echo for actual action. Check for same output filename for multiple source files.

    Also you could use parameter expansion replacement pattern:

    for i in ?????????????*; do echo mv -i "$i" "${i/????????????}"; done

    Using rename (prename), from that directory:

    rename -n 's/.{12}$//' *

    This will rename all files and directories, if you want to do for only files:

    find . -maxdepth 1 -type f -name '?????????????*' -exec rename -n 's/.{12}$//' {} +

    This will do dry-running, remove -n for actual action:

    find . -maxdepth 1 -type f -name '?????????????*' -exec rename 's/.{12}$//' {} +

    Again this could result in a race condition, make sure you check the output from the dry-running carefully.

    • 10

  2. You could use rename. From inside the directory:

    rename -n 's/(.*).{12}/$1/' *

    Remove -n after testing to actually rename the files. Replace {12} with {whatever number of characters you want to delete from the end of the name}

    Explanation

    • s/old/new/' replace oldwithnew`
    • (.*) save any number of any characters...
    • .{12} the last twelve characters whatever they are
    • $1 the characters saved with ()
    • 4