R help - Sep 2017 - rename multiple files by file.rename or other functions

Hi,

   I have 50 files whose names are

XYZW01Genesis_ABC.mp3
XYZW02Genesis_ABC.mp3
.......
XYZW50Genesis_ABC.mp3

   As you can tell, the only difference across the files are 01, 02,
03,....50.

   I would like to rename them to
01Gen01.mp3
01Gen02.mp3
.......
01Gen50.mp3

  If I store them in one folder and write an R code in that folder, how can
it be done?

   Thanks,

John

	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]

Hi John,

I don't know how to do this with R, but on Linux I'd use rename (or
maybe
even by hand if it's a one time event). On Windows I believe there is a
tool called Bulk Rename.

HTH
Ulrik

On Thu, 28 Sep 2017 at 11:37 John <miaojpm at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
>    I have 50 files whose names are
>
> XYZW01Genesis_ABC.mp3
> XYZW02Genesis_ABC.mp3
> .......
> XYZW50Genesis_ABC.mp3
>
>    As you can tell, the only difference across the files are 01, 02,
> 03,....50.
>
>    I would like to rename them to
> 01Gen01.mp3
> 01Gen02.mp3
> .......
> 01Gen50.mp3
>
>   If I store them in one folder and write an R code in that folder, how can
> it be done?
>
>    Thanks,
>
> John
>
>         [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide
> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>
	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]

The combination of list.files(), gsub() and file.rename() should to the
trick.


ir. Thierry Onkelinx
Statisticus/ Statistician

Vlaamse Overheid / Government of Flanders
INSTITUUT VOOR NATUUR- EN BOSONDERZOEK / RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR NATURE AND
FOREST
Team Biometrie & Kwaliteitszorg / Team Biometrics & Quality Assurance
thierry.onkelinx at inbo.be
Kliniekstraat 25, B-1070 Brussel
www.inbo.be

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2017-09-28 11:37 GMT+02:00 John <miaojpm at gmail.com>:
> Hi,
>
>    I have 50 files whose names are
>
> XYZW01Genesis_ABC.mp3
> XYZW02Genesis_ABC.mp3
> .......
> XYZW50Genesis_ABC.mp3
>
>    As you can tell, the only difference across the files are 01, 02,
> 03,....50.
>
>    I would like to rename them to
> 01Gen01.mp3
> 01Gen02.mp3
> .......
> 01Gen50.mp3
>
>   If I store them in one folder and write an R code in that folder, how can
> it be done?
>
>    Thanks,
>
> John
>
>         [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/
> posting-guide.html
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>
	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]

Hi John,
Maybe this:

filenames<-c("XYZW01Genesis_ABC.mp3","XYZW02Genesis_ABC.mp3")
for(filename in filenames) {
 filefirst<-sapply(strsplit(filename,"[.]"),"[",1)
 fileno<-sub("_","",gsub("[[:alpha:]]","",filefirst))
 file.rename(filename,paste("01Gen",fileno,".mp3",sep=""))
}

Jim

On Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 7:37 PM, John <miaojpm at gmail.com>
wrote:
> Hi,
>
>    I have 50 files whose names are
>
> XYZW01Genesis_ABC.mp3
> XYZW02Genesis_ABC.mp3
> .......
> XYZW50Genesis_ABC.mp3
>
>    As you can tell, the only difference across the files are 01, 02,
> 03,....50.
>
>    I would like to rename them to
> 01Gen01.mp3
> 01Gen02.mp3
> .......
> 01Gen50.mp3
>
>   If I store them in one folder and write an R code in that folder, how can
> it be done?
>
>    Thanks,
>
> John
>
>         [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide
http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.

Hi John,
Thanks to Jim for pointing out the file.rename() function. You can try this:

# define the filename templates
strIn  <- "XYZW--Genesis_ABC.mp3"
strOut <- "01Gen--.mp3"

# create the strings "01", "02", ..., "50"
v <- sapply(1:50, function(i) sprintf("%02d",i) )

# perform all the file renames
for ( s in v ) { file.rename(sub("--",s,strIn),
sub("--",s,strOut) ) }

HTH,
Eric









On Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 1:25 PM, Jim Lemon <drjimlemon at gmail.com>
wrote:
> Hi John,
> Maybe this:
>
>
filenames<-c("XYZW01Genesis_ABC.mp3","XYZW02Genesis_ABC.mp3")
> for(filename in filenames) {
>  filefirst<-sapply(strsplit(filename,"[.]"),"[",1)
> 
fileno<-sub("_","",gsub("[[:alpha:]]","",filefirst))
> 
file.rename(filename,paste("01Gen",fileno,".mp3",sep=""))
> }
>
> Jim
>
> On Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 7:37 PM, John <miaojpm at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> >    I have 50 files whose names are
> >
> > XYZW01Genesis_ABC.mp3
> > XYZW02Genesis_ABC.mp3
> > .......
> > XYZW50Genesis_ABC.mp3
> >
> >    As you can tell, the only difference across the files are 01, 02,
> > 03,....50.
> >
> >    I would like to rename them to
> > 01Gen01.mp3
> > 01Gen02.mp3
> > .......
> > 01Gen50.mp3
> >
> >   If I store them in one folder and write an R code in that folder,
how
> can
> > it be done?
> >
> >    Thanks,
> >
> > John
> >
> >         [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
> >
> > ______________________________________________
> > R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
> > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> > PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/
> posting-guide.html
> > and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/
> posting-guide.html
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>
	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]

Hi John,
After a bit of thinking:

# fill in the appropriate path and pattern
filenames<-list.files(path=???,pattern=???)
for(filename in filenames) {
 filefirst<-sapply(strsplit(filename,"[.]"),"[",1)
 # delete all non-digits
 fileno<-gsub("[^[:digit:]]","",filefirst)
 file.rename(filename,paste("01Gen",fileno,".mp3",sep=""))
}

Jim