Rename Textfile by String within textfile

[Alexandra]

Hi,

I have a folder with hundreds of text files. Each text file contains a row with a date. I want to rename the text file with the date contained in this text file. Example: Suppose I have 2 textfiles, then one text file would contain a row like this:

DATE 1 February 2008

and the other would contain a row like this:

DATE 2 February 2008

The rows are not necessarily at the same position (e.g. it's not always the third row) All text files have in common that the date line starts with "Date". Right now the textfiles are named by numbers. How can I rename each text file by the date given within this file? In the above example, I want textfile 1 to be "1February2008" and textfile 2 "2February2008"

Thank you very much for your help!
Alexandra

[debasisdas]

You can follow these steps.

1.Read the content of the file
2.Create a file by that name.
3.Copy the content to the new file.
4.Delte the old file.

You have to use FileSystemObject for the purpose.

[jamesd0142]

I fancied giving this a go also:

Came up with this which works:

sure you can edit it to suit:

 
 
Imports System.IO
Public Class Form1
 
    Dim date1 As String
    Dim j As String
    Dim i As Integer
    Dim pos As Integer
 
    Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        DeleteAllSubFolders("c:\a")
    End Sub
 
    Private Sub DeleteAllSubFolders(ByVal StartPath As String)
        Dim myfolder As DirectoryInfo = New DirectoryInfo(StartPath)
        Dim mySubfolders() As FileInfo = myfolder.GetFiles()
        Dim strFiles() As FileInfo = myfolder.GetFiles()
 
        For Each myItem As FileInfo In strFiles
            'myItem.Delete()
            'open File
            Dim a As String = StartPath & "\" & myItem.ToString
 
            'read File
            Dim EntireLine1 As String
            Dim oFile1 As System.IO.File
            Dim oRead1 As System.IO.StreamReader
            If System.IO.File.Exists(a) = True Then
                oRead1 = oFile1.OpenText(a)
                EntireLine1 = oRead1.ReadToEnd
                oRead1.Close() 'test line
            End If
            Dim b As String = "2008" 'vbCrLf
            'find date
            date1 = EntireLine1.Substring(EntireLine1.IndexOf("DATE"), EntireLine1.IndexOf(b)) ', EntireLine1.IndexOf("2008"))
 
            'function cuts of the end of the line where it finds a return character or line feed...
            For i = 1 To Len(date1)
                j = Mid(date1, i, 1)
                If a = vbCr Or a = vbLf Then
                    Exit For
                End If
            Next
            date1 = Mid(date1, 6, i - 7)
 
            'rename File
            If System.IO.File.Exists(a) = True Then
                System.IO.File.Move(a, StartPath & "\" & RTrim(date1) & ".txt")
            End If
 
        Next
 
    End Sub
End Class
 

[WinblowsME]

Backup before you do a test run.

' VBA
 
Sub Test()
   Dim source_path As String
 
   source_path = "C:\Documents and Settings\WinblowsME\Desktop\Temp"
 
   Call Rename_Files(source_path)
End Sub
 
Private Sub Rename_Files(source_path As String)
   Dim regex As Object, file_name As String, curr_date As String
 
   Set regex = CreateObject("VBScript.RegExp")
 
   regex.Pattern = "\\*$"
   source_path = regex.Replace(source_path, "\")
 
   file_name = Dir(source_path & "*.txt")
 
   Do While file_name <> ""
      curr_date = Get_Date(source_path & file_name)
 
      If curr_date <> "" Then
         Debug.Print source_path & file_name & "->" & source_path & curr_date & ".txt"
 
         'Name source_path & file_name As source_path & curr_date & ".txt"
      End If
 
      file_name = Dir
   Loop
End Sub
 
Private Function Get_Date(file_name As String) As String
   Dim regex As Object, curr_line As String, curr_date As String
 
   Set regex = CreateObject("VBScript.RegExp")
 
   regex.Pattern = "^ *DATE *[0-9]{1,2} *.* *[0-9]{4}"
   curr_line = ""
   curr_date = ""
 
   Open file_name For Input As #1
      Do While Not EOF(1)
         Line Input #1, curr_line
 
         If regex.Test(curr_line) Then
            curr_date = curr_line
            curr_date = Replace(curr_line, "DATE ", "")
            curr_date = Replace(curr_line, " ", "")
            Exit Do
         End If
      Loop
   Close #1
 
   Get_Date = curr_date
End Function

[Killer42]

You can follow these steps. ...

• Far too wasteful to copy everything - just rename them. (What if the files are huge? What if you don't have enough space to copy?)
• You do not have to use FSO, there are a number of methods which can be used.

Alexandra, I don't think you told us what version of VB you're using.

Winnie, pretty sure you've got a bug in lines 48-50.

[Robbie]

Winnie, pretty sure you've got a bug in lines 48-50.

Yes, curr_line on lines 49 and 50 should be curr_date (since curr_date became curr_line on line 48). Line 49 removes "DATE ", then line 50 removes any spaces, probably in case there was a space before "DATE " which he doesn't want to exist.

What sounds dodgy to me though is this removal of any and all spaces; what if there are meant to be spaces? If you want to remove only the space to the left of "DATE ", you could use Mid() to see if it's a space, and then combine 2 Mid()s to piece the first and second half of the line (of the text file) together, on either side of the space which you want to leave out.

[WinblowsME]

Sorry, lines 49 and 50 should be curr_date. It was a last second change that I've overlooked.