Which command can I use to recursively rename or move a file in Windows?

Question

What command in Windows emulates the recursive move / rename command from Unix?

score 61 · Accepted Answer · edited Dec 02 '11 at 06:58

61

Use XP's for command. For example from the command line (in a batch file use %%x instead) to do a recursive move do:

for /r %x in (foo) do move "%x" "drive:\path\bar"

To do a recursive rename do:

for /r %x in (*.c) do ren "%x" *.cpp

Example batch:

for /r "< DIR >" %%x in (*.c) do ren "%%x" *.cpp

edited Dec 02 '11 at 06:58

Gareth

19,080

answered Oct 26 '08 at 13:20

Rob Kam

1,866

score 3 · Answer 2 · edited Sep 09 '18 at 16:19

3

robocopy "C:\Source Folder" "C:\Destination Folder" /E /COPYALL /XJ

Description of parameters:
/E - copy subdirectories, including Empty ones (/S to exclude empty ones)
/COPYALL - COPY ALL file info (equivalent to /COPY:DATSOU)
/XJ - eXclude Junction points and symbolic links. (normally included by default).

edited Sep 09 '18 at 16:19

David d C e Freitas

5,000

answered Oct 31 '12 at 16:42

Lance Miller

39

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 16 '08 at 21:56

I just run a small example in my Windows XP SP2 box with the move command and it worked. All files and directories were moved from source to dest. source and dest are directory names.

move source dest

ver

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]

move /?

Moves files and renames files and directories.

To move one or more files:
MOVE [/Y | /-Y] [drive:][path]filename1[,...] destination

To rename a directory:
MOVE [/Y | /-Y] [drive:][path]dirname1 dirname2

  [drive:][path]filename1 Specifies the location and name of the file
                          or files you want to move.
  destination             Specifies the new location of the file. Destination
                          can consist of a drive letter and colon, a
                          directory name, or a combination. If you are moving
                          only one file, you can also include a filename if
                          you want to rename the file when you move it.
  [drive:][path]dirname1  Specifies the directory you want to rename.
  dirname2                Specifies the new name of the directory.

  /Y                      Suppresses prompting to confirm you want to
                          overwrite an existing destination file.
  /-Y                     Causes prompting to confirm you want to overwrite
                          an existing destination file.

The switch /Y may be present in the COPYCMD environment variable.
This may be overridden with /-Y on the command line.  Default is
to prompt on overwrites unless MOVE command is being executed from
within a batch script.

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 27 '09 at 12:16

for /r %%x in (%1) do ren "%%x" %2

this will rename file recursively :-)

save in a file give 2 arguments from extension and to extension.

ex: file name is test.bat command : test *.avi *.bmp

it renames all files with extension avi to bmp (in all subfolders :))

Note: This is correction for the post answered Oct 26 at 13:20 by Rob Kam. He gave for

/r %x in (*.c) do ren "%x" *.cpp

where as it shud have %% instead of %

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Oct 16 '08 at 21:49

1

The built-in XCOPY command is close. It will do a recursive copy, but I don't think it supports rename.

answered Oct 16 '08 at 21:49

score 1 · Answer 6 · edited Sep 09 '18 at 16:25

I've created a VB Script that will do a search and replace on directory names... I have a files version too, however, I think this is enough to get you started with your own script. The way I use this script is I have a fileandreplacedirs.vbs, and put it in the same folder as the folders I want to rename. Also, it doesn't necessarily recurse into the folder, but could with a little modification

search1  = InputBox("Search for...", "", "")
replace1 = InputBox("replace with...", "", "")

Dim MyFile
MyFiles = GetFileArray(".")

For Each MyFile In MyFiles
    NewFilename = Replace(MyFile.Name, search1, replace1)
    If InStr( MyFile.Name, search1 ) Then MyFile.Name = NewFilename
Next

MsgBox "Done..."

function GetFileArray(ByVal vPath)
    'Get our objects...
    Set FSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
    Set Folder = FSO.Getfolder(vPath)
    Set Files = Folder.SubFolders

    'Resize the local array
    'Arrays are 0 based but Files collection is 1 based.
    if Files.count = 0 then
        GetFileArray = array()
        Exit Function
    Else
        Index = 0
        Redim FileList(Files.Count-1)
        For Each File In Files
            set FileList(Index) = File
            Index = Index + 1
        Next
        GetFileArray = FileList
    End If

    'Always good practice to explicitly release objects...
    Set FSO = Nothing
    Set Folder = Nothing
    Set Files = Nothing

End function

score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Jan 30 '09 at 09:18

1

This worked better for me:

FOR /R "C:\folder1\folder2\" %i in (.,*) DO MOVE /Y "%i" "C:\folder1\"

Source: http://www.islamadel.com/index.php/notes/6-computer/10-windows-command-line

answered Jan 30 '09 at 09:18

score 1 · Answer 8 · edited Dec 02 '11 at 07:00

1

There are Windows ports for most UNIX commands:

edited Dec 02 '11 at 07:00

Gareth

19,080

answered Aug 06 '09 at 19:48

score 0 · Answer 9 · edited Sep 09 '18 at 16:26

I found this python script that works as well:

for root, dirs, files in os.walk(cur_dir):  
    for filename in files:  
        file_ext = os.path.splitext(filename)[1]  
        if old_ext == file_ext:  
            oldname = os.path.join(root, filename)  
            newname = oldname.replace(old_ext, new_ext)  
            os.rename(oldname, newname)

Found at: http://gomputor.wordpress.com/2008/09/29/change-the-extension-of-multiple-files-in-a-chosen-directory-with-python/

I added Python to my path and put the Python script above in a 'utils' folder. I then created this simple batch script to run it: rn.bat:

python \utils\rn.py %1 %2 %3

I also updated the python script above to take its args from the command line. rn.py:

import sys
import os

cur_dir = sys.argv[1]
old_ext = sys.argv[2]
new_ext = sys.argv[3]

#print cur_dir, old_ext, new_ext
for root, dirs, files in os.walk(cur_dir):  
    for filename in files:  
        file_ext = os.path.splitext(filename)[1]

        if old_ext == file_ext:  
            oldname = os.path.join(root, filename)  
            newname = oldname.replace(old_ext, new_ext)  
            os.rename(oldname, newname)

Finally all one needs to do now is something like this:

>rn . .foo .bar

or

>rn \ .exe .txt

Have fun with the second one :)

score 0 · Answer 10 · edited Dec 02 '11 at 06:59

0

Use a simple DOS command.

cd to the source directory where you want to rename the file extensions recursively.

Type this command:

ren *.[CurrentFileExtension] *.[DesiredFileExtension]

edited Dec 02 '11 at 06:59

Gareth

19,080

answered Oct 17 '08 at 13:21

score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Nov 07 '13 at 19:46

I added if exist to avoid error returns (it matters in Jenkins so it doesn't breaks a build) when the file doesn't exists in every folder:

for /r %x in (foo) do if exist "%x" move "%x" "drive:\path\bar"

To do a recursive rename do:

for /r %x in (*.c) do if exist "%x" ren "%x" *.cpp

Example batch:

for /r "< DIR >" %%x in (*.c) do if exist "%%x" ren "%%x" *.cpp

score 0 · Answer 12 · edited May 07 '14 at 18:18

0

Powershell is your friend. No batch files or scripts needed. For example, to recursivly rename all the .tiff files to .tif in a remote directory you can run the following command from Powershell:

get-childitem "\\\servername\d$\path" -recurse -Include *.tiff | Rename-Item -NewName { $_.Name.replace(".tiff",".tif") }

edited May 07 '14 at 18:18

Matthew Williams

4,324

answered May 07 '14 at 17:55

Reba

1

Which command can I use to recursively rename or move a file in Windows?

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