ken@titan ~/tmp/pm_11152739_file_rename $ ls -1 'test 4_5 6' test_1_2_3 'test_a b_c d_e f' $ perl -e ' use strict; use warnings; use File::Rename "rename"; my @files = ( "test 4_5 6", "test_1_2_3", "test_a b_c d_e f", ); rename \@files, { _code => sub { s/_/ /g; }, verbose => 1, no_action => 1, }; ' rename(test 4_5 6, test 4 5 6) rename(test_1_2_3, test 1 2 3) rename(test_a b_c d_e f, test a b c d e f) $ ls -1 'test 4_5 6' test_1_2_3 'test_a b_c d_e f' $ perl -e ' use strict; use warnings; use File::Rename "rename"; my @files = ( "test 4_5 6", "test_1_2_3", "test_a b_c d_e f", ); rename \@files, { _code => sub { s/_/ /g; }, verbose => 1, }; ' test 4_5 6 renamed as test 4 5 6 test_1_2_3 renamed as test 1 2 3 test_a b_c d_e f renamed as test a b c d e f $ ls -1 'test 1 2 3' 'test 4 5 6' 'test a b c d e f'