Ubuntu – Move characters from the start of filenames to the end (before extension) and add whitespace

batch-renamecommand line

I have ~2000 files in an original naming scheme.

I need to take them all, move the first 4 characters to the end of the filename before the extension, and then add a whitespace before the first 4 characters.

Basically, from:

0123 [UNKNOWN] (Final Fantasy 9) headshot of Freya Crescent {sketch} (ORIGINAL).jpg

to

[UNKNOWN] (Final Fantasy 9) headshot of Freya Crescent {sketch} (ORIGINAL) 0123.jpg

Best Answer

This should work:

rename -n 's/^([0-9]+) (.*)\.jpg/$2 $1.jpg/' /path/to/files/*.jpg

Sample:

0324 [UNKNOWN] (Final Fantasy 9) headshot of Freya Crescent {sketch} (ORIGINAL).txt
0123 [UNKNOWN] (Final Fantasy 9) headshot of Freya Crescent {sketch} (ORIGINAL).txt
0124 [UNKNOWN] (Final Fantasy 9) headshot of Freya Crescent {sketch} (ORIGINAL).txt

Results:

rename(0123 [UNKNOWN] (Final Fantasy 9) headshot of Freya Crescent {sketch} (ORIGINAL).txt,  [UNKNOWN] (Final Fantasy 9) headshot of Freya Crescent {sketch} (ORIGINAL) 0123.txt)
rename(0124 [UNKNOWN] (Final Fantasy 9) headshot of Freya Crescent {sketch} (ORIGINAL).txt,  [UNKNOWN] (Final Fantasy 9) headshot of Freya Crescent {sketch} (ORIGINAL) 0124.txt)
rename(0324 [UNKNOWN] (Final Fantasy 9) headshot of Freya Crescent {sketch} (ORIGINAL).txt,  [UNKNOWN] (Final Fantasy 9) headshot of Freya Crescent {sketch} (ORIGINAL) 0324.txt)

Note: Tested with .txt files will also work on jpg filenames

Information:

([0-9]+): pick the numbers at the front.

(.*): pick every other thing till the file extension.

$2 $1.txt: return the captured groups with the returned group for numbers placed close to the file extension jpg and add a space before the numbers.

-n: run without changing filename so we see what files are changed and what the names are changed to, remove this to rename the files.

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