renaming multiple files using the command prompt

Hi

Thanks for your reply.

I apologize for the confusion. The command provided was intended to append the word "Windsor" before the existing filename, not to replace "WI" with "Windsor". My apologies for misunderstanding your requirements.

To replace "WI" with "Windsor" in the filenames, you can use a batch script with the ren  command. However, the ren command itself doesn't support direct string replacement. You'll need a more powerful scripting language, like PowerShell.

Here's how you can do it with PowerShell:

1. Open PowerShell by clicking the Start button, typing 'PowerShell' into the search box, and pressing Enter.
2. Navigate to the directory containing your files using the  cd  command. For example:  cd C:\path\to\your\files
3. Run the following command:

    Get-ChildItem -Filter WI*.* | Rename-Item -NewName {$_.name -replace 'WI','Windsor' }
   

4. This command gets all files starting with 'WI' and renames them by replacing 'WI' with 'Windsor'.
5. Please be careful when running these commands, and make sure you have a backup of your files, as renaming operations are not easily reversible.

Hi Derrick,

Thanks for your response! That did not work exactly as you described. After executing the command (thank you for taking the time to explain the constituent parts) the end result is that the word "Windsor" was inserted into each file name, but did not eliminate the "WI" characters, so the result is "WIWindsor...." for all the file names. Except the first one, which had "Windsor" inserted twice. So that file is now named "WindsorWindsorWI...." See attached screen shots.

Hi

Welcome to Microsoft community.

It looks like you're on the right track, but the command you're using isn't preserving the unique alphanumeric sequences in each file name. The 'ren' command in Windows doesn't support wildcards in the replacement text, which is why the unique sequences are being removed.

Instead, you can use a 'for' loop with the 'ren' command to rename each file individually while preserving the unique sequences. Here's how you can do it:

for %A in (WI*.*) do ren "%A" "Windsor%~nxA" 

This command works as follows:

• for %A in (WI*.*) do  This part of the command loops through each file in the current directory that starts with 'WI' and has any extension.
• ren "%A" "Windsor%~nxA"  This part of the command renames each file, replacing 'WI' with 'Windsor' and preserving the rest of the original file name and extension.
• %~nxA This is a special variable that represents the name and extension of the current file in the loop.

Please note that you should run this command in the directory where the files you want to rename are located. Also, please ensure to back up your files before running this command, as renaming operations can't be undone.

Please feel free to let me know if you have any further updates, thanks.

Best regards

Derrick Qian | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Just as an FYI, the following tools make bulk renaming very easy:

https://www.bulkrenameutility.co.uk/

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/powerrename

Hi

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