Changing many file names at once

[arnaudk]

I have a number of files each named differently but all ending in ".dat". I'd like to swap the ".dat" for ".csv". I could write a batch script which iterates through the ".dat" files, renaming each one, but is there an easier way to do this?

[Nepomuk]

Well, I don't know about you, but I use Xfce as a Desktop Environment and I only have to mark all of the file I want to rename, right click on them, choose "Change name" and then I can select "Replace ... with ..." for all of them. I guess that other Environments (meaning Gnome and KDE) have similar capabilities. Maybe just try doing it like I do, it might work. ^^

Greetings,
Nepomuk

[edwardrsmith]

If you check the repositories there are lots of programs which are made for renaming large quantities of files.

Edward

[arnaudk]

Unfortunately, I'm working through a ssh terminal, but I'll keep the gui tip in mind. It would be nice if I could just use core utils and do it on one line, but at the moment I'm just using this small script.

#!/bin/csh
 
foreach fname (`ls *.dat`)
  cp $fname `echo $fname | sed 's/.dat/.csv/g'`
end
 

[edwardrsmith]

Working through ssh terminal should not stop you from installing or running a program which will rename files. If you use the '-X' flag with ssh then it will tunnel graphics (so if you run a program with a gui the gui will appear on the computer infront of you). As for installing a program, every package manager I know of has terminal commands (but since I don't know what linux system you are using I can't say what command to use).

Edward