922 files need 0001 - taken out of the title; How ?

[robt23]

Hi,

I`m knew to this forum , hope you guys out there can find solutions to my Kubuntu setup.

The thread starter says mostly what I need but I`ll go into it abit more.

- 922 files - name examples :
- 0002 - Ticket to America1-001.mpg
- 0011 - Ticket to America2-014.mpg
- 0032 - Racing the Wind 1- 001.wmv
- 0054 - Racing the Wind 2- 008.wmv

OK. So , what I want to do is delete the "0002 -", part of the file name on all 922 files.

Yes, i could go through the archive and delete the parts one by one but I`d get tendonitis.

A solution would bring considerable brain relief.

Thanks.

[zenwalker]

Look into PERL

[robt23]

Ok, thanks , I`ve just looked at it but don`t see a solucion there. It`s not just a dozen or so files it`s a mega archive.

The "0001 , 0014, 0054" etc need removing , the rest of the name and ext stays the same.

[drl]

Hi.

The rename utility allows perl statements to be used to configure how the resulting filename should look. For example:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

# @(#) s1	Demonstrate rename files with perl-pattern utility "rename".

# Utility functions: print-as-echo, print-line-with-visual-space, debug.
# export PATH="/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin"
pe() { for _i;do printf "%s" "$_i";done; printf "\n"; }
pl() { pe;pe "-----" ;pe "$*"; }
db() { ( printf " db, ";for _i;do printf "%s" "$_i";done;printf "\n" ) >&2 ; }
db() { : ; }
C=$HOME/bin/context && [ -f $C ] && $C

pl " Local file example set:"
ls -lgG 0*

pl " Results:"
rename --no-act 's/^\d* - //' 0*

exit 0

producing:

% ./s1

Environment: LC_ALL = C, LANG = C
(Versions displayed with local utility "version")
OS, ker|rel, machine: Linux, 2.6.26-2-amd64, x86_64
Distribution        : Debian GNU/Linux 5.0.8 (lenny) 
GNU bash 3.2.39

-----
 Local file example set:
-rw-r----- 1 0 Jan 30 06:20 0002 - Ticket to America1-001.mpg
-rw-r----- 1 0 Jan 30 06:20 0011 - Ticket to America2-014.mpg
-rw-r----- 1 0 Jan 30 06:20 0032 - Racing the Wind 1- 001.wmv
-rw-r----- 1 0 Jan 30 06:20 0054 - Racing the Wind 2- 008.wmv

-----
 Results:
0002 - Ticket to America1-001.mpg renamed as Ticket to America1-001.mpg
0011 - Ticket to America2-014.mpg renamed as Ticket to America2-014.mpg
0032 - Racing the Wind 1- 001.wmv renamed as Racing the Wind 1- 001.wmv
0054 - Racing the Wind 2- 008.wmv renamed as Racing the Wind 2- 008.wmv

Things to note:
1) "s'" means substitute: the part of the string to be deleted is "start-of-name digits space dash space"
2) the "--no-act" shows what will be done

See man rename for details ... cheers, drl

[robt23]

Thanks for taking the time to post your cryptic answer. i have re-ordered all the files and put them in folders.

Thanks again for your solutions.