josephuspaye / dub

Quickly rename multiple files from the command line, using a glob or regular expression

Dub

Quickly rename multiple files from the command line, using a glob or regular expression, with support for variable substitution and automatic case transformation.

This project is part of #CreateWeekly, my attempt to create something new publicly every week in 2020.

Installation

npm install @josephuspaye/dub --global

Examples

The following examples change all matching files in the current directory.

Rename all PDF files to title case

dub "*.pdf" "{1:title}.pdf"

Before	After
final_projectReport.pdf	Final Project Report.pdf
The_School_Based_Lived_Experiences_of_Adolescents.pdf	The School Based Lived Experiences of Adolescents.pdf

More case transformations are available. See Case transformation of variables below.

Change the extension of all .jpeg files to .jpg

dub "*.jpeg" "{1}.jpg"

Before	After
WhatsApp-Image-2019-05-07-at-16.01.31.jpeg	WhatsApp-Image-2019-05-07-at-16.01.31.jpg
twitter-avatar.jpeg	twitter-avatar.jpg

Rename all subtitle files to show they're in English

dub "*.srt" "{1}.eng.srt"

Before	After
Westworld - S03E03 - The Absence of Field.srt	Westworld - S03E03 - The Absence of Field.eng.srt
Westworld - S03E08 - Crisis Theory.srt	Westworld - S03E08 - Crisis Theory.eng.srt

Number all files, padded to three digits

dub "*" "{00i} - {1}"

Before	After
Report 2016.xlsx	001 - Report 2016.xlsx
Report 2017.xlsx	002 - Report 2017.xlsx
Report 2018.xlsx	003 - Report 2018.xlsx

Remove the word "draft" from the name of all files

dub "*draft*" "{1}{2}"

Before	After
Quarterly earnings draft report.pdf	Quarterly earnings report.pdf
Assignment 3 draft.docx	Assignment 3.docx

Usage

Description
  Rename files matching the <from> pattern to new names derived from the <to> template.
  Run `npm repo @josephuspaye/dub` for details.

Usage
  $ dub <from> <to> [options]

Options
  -d, --dry        Performs a dry run. Will show what the renamed files will be without actually renaming any files.
  -e, --regex      Matches <from> as a JS regular expression (excluding // delimiters). By default, <from> is matched as a glob pattern.
  -f, --files      Matches files only. By default, both files and directories are matched.
  -i, --dirs       Matches directories only. By default, both files and directories are matched.
  -v, --version    Displays current version
  -h, --help       Displays this message

Examples
  $ dub "*.jpg" "{00i} {1}.jpg"
  $ dub "*.srt" "{1}.eng.srt"
  $ dub "*.mp4" "{1:title}.mp4"

<from> pattern

<from> defines a pattern that is used to match files to rename. The pattern can be a glob or JavaScript regular expression (using the --regex option).

When using a glob, the match of each wildcard is captured, and can be substituted as a variable in the <to> template. For example, the pattern *-*.txt will match all text files with a hyphen in their name. Everything before the hyphen will be captured as the variable 1, and everything after will be captured as 2. These can be substituted as {1} and {2} respectively in the template.

When using a regular expression, the result of capturing groups can be substituted as a variables in the <to> template. The result of the first capturing group will be the variable 1, the second will be 2, the third will be 3, etc. These can be substituted as {1}, {2}, {3}, etc respectively in the template.

<to> template

<to> defines a template with zero or more variables that is used to generate the new file names. Variables captured from the <from> pattern can be used in the template by wrapping their names in { and }. When the files are renamed, those variables are replaced with the string matched in the original file name.

For example, given a file named the best way to predict the future is to invent it.txt, a <from> pattern of * best * invent * will match the file and capture the following variables:

Name	Value
1	the
2	way to predict the future is to
3	it.txt

Using the above with the <to> template {1} easiest {2} prevent {3} will result in the new name the easiest way to predict the future is to prevent it.txt.

Counter variables

The special variable i can be used to insert a counter, which will start at 1 and go up to the number of files being renamed. When using the counter variable, the letter i can be prefixed with any number of zeroes to indicate that the counter should be zero-padded.

For example, the template {00i} will produce 001, 002, 003, ..., 010, 011, 012, ..., 100, 101, 102, etc.

Case transformation of variables

The casing of matched variables (excluding counter variables) can be changed. This is done by adding a : followed by the name of the case to change to. For example {1:upper} will change the value of the variable 1 to upper case.

The following cases are available:

Case	Description
camel	Changes the text into a string with the separator denoted by the next word capitalized. Example: Brienne Of Tarth → brienneOfTarth
capital	Changes the text into a space separated string with each word capitalized. Example: Brienne Of Tarth → Brienne Of Tarth
dot	Changes the text into a lower case string with a period between words. Example: Brienne Of Tarth → brienne.of.tarth
header	Changes the text into a dash separated string of capitalized words. Example: Brienne Of Tarth → Brienne-Of-Tarth
kebab	Changes the text into a dash separated string of lower cased words. Example: Brienne Of Tarth → brienne-of-tarth
lower	Changes the text to lower case. Example: Brienne Of Tarth → brienne of tarth
pascal	Changes the text into a string of capitalized words without separators. Example: Brienne Of Tarth → BrienneOfTarth
sentence	Changes the text into lower case with spaces between words, then capitalizes the string. Example: Brienne Of Tarth → Brienne of tarth
snake	Changes the text into a lower case string with underscores between words. Example: Brienne Of Tarth → brienne_of_tarth
sponge	Changes the text to sponge case (random capitalization). Example: Brienne Of Tarth → bRIEnNE oF TarTh
swap	Changes the text by changing lower case letters into upper case, and vice-versa. Example: Brienne Of Tarth → bRIENNE oF tARTH
title	Changes the text to title case following English rules. Example: Brienne Of Tarth → Brienne Of Tarth
upper	Changes the text to upper case. Example: Brienne Of Tarth → BRIENNE OF TARTH

Licence

MIT