batch rename with a 1 liner

Theo has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I've been poking at this for some time now, super-searched and checked perlrun, but I'm stuck. I have a dir full of files that I need to rename. The files are similar to these:

newcam_boards.html
newcam_boards_contents.html
newcam_title.html
newcam_title.shtml
newcam_title_contents.html
newcam_title_contents.shtml
[download]

The project got renamed and now I need to change filenames to reflect the change. They should now be:

Ucam_boards.html
Ucam_boards_contents.html
Ucam_title.html
Ucam_title.shtml
Ucam_title_contents.html
Ucam_title_contents.shtml
[download]

The closest I have gotten in my unix system is this one-liner and it's subsequent error:

%perl -e 'while(<*html>){m/newcam(_\w+\.s?html)/;rename $_,Ucam$1}'
Can't locate object method "Ucam" via package "_boards.html" at -e lin
+e 1.
[download]

Am I way off base here?
(PS: Thanks to jeffa and some of his previous post for getting me this far!)

-theo-
(so many nodes and so little time ... )
Note: All opinions are untested, unless otherwise stated

Comment on batch rename with a 1 liner Select or Download Code

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Re: batch rename with a 1 liner by antirice (Priest) on Oct 08, 2003 at 00:27 UTC
Change it to `rename $_,"Ucam$1"`. Hope this helps. antirice The first rule of Perl club is - use Perl The ith rule of Perl club is - follow rule i - 1 for i > 1	[reply] [d/l]
Re: batch rename with a 1 liner by jeffa (Bishop) on Oct 08, 2003 at 03:25 UTC
You weren't too far off, i prefer to use a for loop instead and avoid explicitly using `$1` whenever i can. Here's a little scheme i developed for myself a while back. Start with a simple for loop - grab the files you want and print them out: `perl -le'for(<html>){print}'` [download] Next grab a copy of $_, perform substitution on $_ and print `perl -le'for(<html>){$o=$_;s/^new/U/;print}'` [download] Finally, drop the print and do some damage `perl -e'for(<*html>){$o=$_;s/^new/U/;rename $o,$_}'` [download] The first step is just to set up a working one-liner. The second step is important, as you will see what the results will look like, but i still like to live dangerously and just hammer out the third step unless i am using data of any importance. Be safe. :) jeffa L-LL-L--L-LL-L--L-LL-L-- -R--R-RR-R--R-RR-R--R-RR B--B--B--B--B--B--B--B-- H---H---H---H---H---H--- (the triplet paradiddle with high-hat)	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: batch rename with a 1 liner by vanwie (Acolyte) on Oct 08, 2003 at 00:59 UTC
Not a perl solution, but... If you use bash, you may find the following solution workable: `$ for i in *.html; do mv $i U${i#new}; done` [download] See the BASH FAQ (section D3) for more.	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Re: batch rename with a 1 liner by DrHyde (Prior) on Oct 08, 2003 at 08:52 UTC
Or cutting out bash-specific stuff: for i in *.html; do mv $i `echo $i\|sed 's/unwanted/replace/'`; done [download] I recommend putting an `echo` between the `do` and `mv` first to make sure it's doing what you expect. Will need further work if you have whitespace in filenames.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: batch rename with a 1 liner by greenFox (Vicar) on Oct 08, 2003 at 02:35 UTC
For a generic solution to this type of problem you can use Larry Wall's rename.pl script from chapter 9 of the Perl Cookbook- `#!/usr/bin/perl -w # rename - Larry's filename fixer $op = shift or die "Usage: rename expr [files]\n"; chomp(@ARGV = <STDIN>) unless @ARGV; for (@ARGV) { $was = $_; eval $op; die $@ if $@; rename($was,$_) unless $was eq $_; }` [download] So for your example you would do rename.pl s/^new/U/ .html .shtml -- Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Seek what they sought. -Basho	[reply] [d/l]
Re: batch rename with a 1 liner by idsfa (Vicar) on Oct 08, 2003 at 02:42 UTC
Golf! `perl -e 'map{m/new(.)/;rename $_,"U$1";}<html>'` [download] Yes, I know that dot-star is evil. Remember, when you stare long into the abyss, you could have been home eating ice cream.	[reply] [d/l]
Re: batch rename with a 1 liner by bart (Canon) on Oct 20, 2003 at 13:20 UTC
Don't rename a file if the pattern doesn't match! `m/newcam(_\w+\.s?html)$/ and rename $_, "Ucam$1";` [download]	[reply] [d/l]