- 1 year ago
Rename wildcard files in Windows CMD
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To rename multiple files using wildcards in Windows Command Prompt (CMD), you can use a combination of commands like dir
, for
, and ren
. Here's an example of how to rename files with a specific wildcard pattern:
Suppose you have multiple files in a directory that follow a pattern like "file_001.txt", "file_002.txt", and so on, and you want to rename them to "data_001.txt", "data_002.txt", and so on.
- First, navigate to the directory containing the files you want to rename. Open Command Prompt and use the
cd
command to change to the desired directory:
cmdcd C:\Path\To\Your\Directory
- To preview the renaming operation, you can use the
dir
command with the appropriate wildcard:
cmddir file_*.txt
- Once you are sure that the correct files are being listed, you can use a
for
loop to rename them. Here's an example of how to rename the files using theren
command:
cmdfor %F in (file_*.txt) do ren "%F" "data_%%~nxF"
In the above command:
%F
is a variable that represents each file matching the wildcard pattern "file_*.txt"."data_%%~nxF"
is the new filename, where%%~nxF
extracts the name and extension of each file.
After running the for
loop, the files will be renamed as "data_001.txt", "data_002.txt", and so on.
Please be cautious when using wildcards for renaming files, as it can have unintended consequences if not used carefully. Always make sure to take a backup of the files before performing batch renaming operations.