Rename Multiple Files in Multiple Folders with One Command – How to Guide

batch-renamehtmlPHPpowershellwindows

We want to rename our *.html files to *.php but (sadly enough) have not enough knowledge to do it with a cmd prompt command and/or batch file.

The problem is that each file is in separate folder –
and I am talking about 750+ different folder names.
Using wildcards for the files I know is the *
but using also a wildcard for folders is unknown to me.
We probably need to use the FOR command (in Command Prompt),
but there I am stuck.

Folder structure we use is:

parent-folder/child-folder/grandchild-folder/file.html

for example:

games/A/game_name/file.html
games/B/game_name/file.html
games/C/game_name/file.html and so on.

The parent folder is the same for all files; the child & grandchild folders are different for most files.

After renaming these files to *.php I assume the following in the .htaccess will make a permanent redirect.

RedirectMatch 301 (.*)\.html$ http://oursite.com$1.php

Best Answer

get-childItem -recurse | Where {$_.extension -eq ".html"} | rename-item -newname { $_.name -replace ".html",".php" }

This will work in PowerShell. If you have Windows 7 or Vista, you should have it installed by default. If you are on XP you can download it here.

Prevent Folder Deletion or inadvertent Drag and Drop with NTFS security

If you want to prevent a specific folder from being deleted or dragged and dropped elsewhere, even if it has elevated implicit permissions, you can set an explicit DENY to the FOLDER ONLY for the user account or security group which you want to prevent this action from being performed.

You can complete this folder security lock down using ICACLS with a local path (e.g C:\Path\FolderA\FolderE) or a UNC path (e.g \\server\share\FolderA\FolderE).

Example ICACLS syntax to run from an elevated command prompt

ICACLS "\\server\share\FolderA\FolderE" /deny "<UserOrGroupNameToDeny>":(DE)

Permissions Used

/deny user:permission
   Explicitly deny the specified user access rights.
   This will also remove any explicit grant of the 
   same permissions to the same user.

perm is a permission mask and can be specified in one of two forms:
   a comma-separated list in parentheses of specific rights:
         DE - delete

What this does

Running the above with those options in that syntax will set an explicit DENY to the NTFS DELETE permission on that FOLDER ONLY to that specific user account of security group.

You can confirm the deny permissions to the folder for the user account or security group by:

right-click the folder you've used in the command,
Select the Security tab,
In the Group or user name: area scroll to or select and highlight the account or group you've used in the command,
In the Permissions for Administrators area you will see the NTFS permission attributes for Allow and Deny
You'll see a check mark in the DENY column of the special permissions row for the account or group you've used in the command

Select Advanced and go to the Permissions tab
Check for the Name (or Principal) value that you used in command, for DENY in the Type field
The Permissions (or Access) field should show Delete and the Apply to (or Applies to) will show this folder only

NOTES

Please note that unchecking an ALLOW DELETE attribute is not the same as leaving that in place as-is and then creating a separate NTFS ACL rule for this same security group or user account saying to explicitly DENY the DELETE security.

This solution does NOT disallow DELETE this way

(WRONG)