Renaming multiple files by adding a string to the beginning

Question

I have a question concerning the renamining of multiple files in a folder. For about 200 files I would like to add the String "1_" to the beginning of all filenames. The filenames are for example "DATASET_X_Y_Z" and the result should be "1_DATASET_X_Y_Z". Maybe somebody knows how to do this the easy way. Unfortunately I don't know a thing about Shellscripting but maybe there is a oneliner for the terminal.

Thanks!

Answer 1

• rename 's/^/1_/' * for renaming all files in the current directory

or

• rename 's/^/1_/' DATASET* for renaming all files in the current directory starting with DATASET in their name

Explanation: the expression s/^/1_/ says: "replace the beginning of the filename (that means this symbol -> ^)' with 1_".

Answer 2

You can use pyRenamer. It can be found in the Ubuntu software center. The original file pattern should be {X} and the renamed file pattern should be 1_{1}

Answer 3

Very easily to rename all the files in the current directory you can type (assuming you are using bash):

for i in *; do mv $i 1_$i; done

obviously take it with care (it will remane ALL the files in the current directory that are 'visible' (filename not starting with a '.')

Answer 4

You can find several good linux batch rename video tutorials, like this http://youtu.be/TaqtAbrsiP4 , on youtube