Rename Filename with Parent Folder Name – Scripting Guide

With perl's rename :

rename 's/(PMC|\.pdf)//g' *pdf.txt 

Demo :

$ ls *txt
PMC21375.pdf.txt
$ rename -n 's/(PMC|\.pdf)//g' *txt 
PMC21375.pdf.txt -> 21375.txt

from the shell prompt. It's very useful, you can put some perl code like I does in a substitution.

You can remove the -n (dry-run mode switch) when your tests become valids.

There are other tools with the same name which may or may not be able to do this, so be careful.

If you run the following command (linux)

$ file $(readlink -f $(type -p rename))

and you have a result like

.../rename: Perl script, ASCII text executable

then this seems to be the right tool =)

If not, to make it the default (usually already the case) on Debian and derivative like Ubuntu :

$ sudo update-alternatives --set rename /path/to/rename

(replace /path/to/rename to the path of your perl's rename command.

Last but not least, this tool was originally written by Larry Wall, the Perl's dad.

I would use the mcp tool from the mmv ("multiple move") package for that:

mcp '/home/user/*/*/Load.bdf' '#1_#2_Load.bdf'

The #1, #2 etc. in the second string will be replaced by the contents of the corresponding 1st, 2nd etc. wildcard from the first string. Note that the path is in single quotes so that the wildcards are interpreted by mcp, not by the shell.

With the command shown, the files will be copied to the current directory. If you replace mcp with mmv, the files will be moved instead.