63
votes
How to rename multiple files at once?
No need for command line...
Add all the images to be renamed into a folder.
Select all files, right click mouse and select "Rename x items"
Select "Add text" from first drop down menu
Select "Before ...
- 681
34
votes
How to rename multiple files at once?
brew install rename
rename s/config\./route\.config\./g *
First you need homebrew installed. Then install rename, and the above regex renames all files with "config." to "route.config".
So say ...
- 449
20
votes
Accepted
Spotlight search to Bluetooth settings hindered by "Bluetooth file exchange"
You can fix this by adding Bluetooth File Exchange to Spotlight's exclusion list.
In Finder, open /Applications/Utilities
Navigate to the Spotlight Privacy section:
For macOS Ventura and newer
Go ...
- 385
19
votes
Batch replace substring with another in filenames
Unless you need a solution you can use in a script, you can do this directly in Finder.
Select the files you want to rename
Right click one of them, and choose Rename N Items... (where N is the ...
- 5,871
16
votes
Accepted
Renaming documents from within the 'Open' and 'Save As' dialog boxes just like in Windows
Can I do the same thing in macOS?
Yes and No. Let me explain.
Yes
You can do the same thing from within the Open dialogue window of an application, however it is not done by clicking on the ...
- 64k
12
votes
Accepted
How do I rename an app in MacOS properly?
Renaming the .app package in Finder only changes the name there, it doesn't change the name shown in the menu. To do so edit YOUR.app/Contents/Resources/XY.lproj/InfoPlist.strings (with XY being the ...
- 97.1k
11
votes
Accepted
Renaming files/names in bulk, any smarter solution?
export into a CSV (unicode UTF-8 or any other 8bit encoding, not UTF-16): two columns, separated by ; (assuming there is no ; in a file name)
open Terminal
change to folder containing the files
run ...
- 97.1k
9
votes
Accepted
Batch replace substring with another in filenames
There are tons of ways to do this, for instance
for i in *pngEND*.png; do [[ -e ${i/.pngEND/_} ]] || echo mv "$i" "${i/.pngEND/_}"; done
Remove the echo if the output looks sensible.
- 97.1k
9
votes
Accepted
How to confirm Finder's rename prompt using the keyboard?
Press Ctrl+F7 to enable all controls for Tab key and use it to switch the active button in application dialogs.
This can also be set in System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Shortcuts.
- 3,918
8
votes
Accepted
Prepend folder names to file name and flatten file structure
Tricky one, especially if you want to keep all the spaces etc. Run the following in the top directory (the one which contains 2013-02 Snow and birds etc):
find . -type f -exec sh -c 'for f do x=${f#....
- 97.1k
7
votes
Accepted
How to batch rename files via Terminal using the file's date as filename?
for f in *.*; do
echo mv "$f" "$(stat -f '%Sm' -t '%Y-%m-%d %H.%M.%S' "$f").${f##*.}"
done
Or as a one-liner:
for f in *.*; do echo mv "$f" "$(stat -f '%Sm' -t '%Y-%m-%d %H.%M.%S' "$f").${f##*.}...
- 57.5k
7
votes
Accepted
Renamed /etc folder. I can't login anymore
I would try booting in single user mode (holding the Apple and S keys while rebooting), mount the hard drive (mount -uw /) and then check and rename etc as needed (there should be an alias at the root ...
- 1,549
7
votes
Accepted
Rename file names in directory to creation timestamp with second precision
If all the files are in the same directory, then in Terminal, changed directory, e.g. cd /path/to/directory and then use the following compound command:
for f in *.*; do echo mv -n "$f" "${f%.*}-$(...
- 57.5k
6
votes
Mac Terminal - Rename Keeping Last 6 Characters
Make a backup of the files first!
Then open Terminal (, start a bash shell if you are not using the default shell) and run
cd ~/Desktop/Power
\ls | while IFS= read f; do echo mv -vn "$f" "${f/*-/}"; ...
- 97.1k
6
votes
How to rename multiple files at once?
After downloading rename
brew install rename
run following command
rename -n -A Vacation- *
-A : prepend
-n : Only show how the files would be renamed.
If it looks good, run the same command ...
- 161
6
votes
Accepted
Batch change creation dates based on file names
Bash parameter expansion will work:
for f in *; do
t="${f#* }"
t="${t%%.*}"
t="${t:0:4}${t:5:2}${t:8:2}${t:11:2}${t:13:2}.${t:15:2}"
touch -t $t "$f"
done
t="${f#* }" strips off the ...
- 65.9k
6
votes
Batch Renaming Folders
Select all the folders you want to rename, right click them and select "Rename [number] Items..."
When you use the "Rename Finder Items" feature, you have to change it from "Replace Text" to "Format" ...
- 5,007
5
votes
How to find duplicate folder names and resolve naming conflicts in OS X?
You can do this in bash to identify which files and folders are problematic:
find /path/to/remote/library | tr A-Z a-z | sort | uniq -d
This will output all lower case files and folders that have a ...
- 713
5
votes
Renaming files/names in bulk, any smarter solution?
I've found this to be one of the most simple ways:
In a spreadsheet column, concatenate: "cp oldfilename newfilename" to create a copy with the new name.
Use "mv oldfilename newfilename" to replace ...
- 51
5
votes
Renaming documents from within the 'Open' and 'Save As' dialog boxes just like in Windows
Right-click or control-click on the file to rename it from the open dialog.
- 9,428
5
votes
Accepted
Automator action not supplied with the required data
It is still not totally clear what it is you're trying to accomplish, however, here is an example workflow that you might find useful.
First Automator Workflow
Broken into two working segments:
...
- 57.5k
5
votes
Accepted
Rename home folder to match account name (High Sierra)
Per Apple, assuming you're on OS X 10.7 or higher:
Delete the orphaned home directory.
Log out of the account you're renaming, then log in to a different administrator account.
Go to the Users folder ...
- 5,034
4
votes
Accepted
Batch Renaming Folders
Here is an AppleScript solution that is quite efficient. You can save this code in script editor.app as an application.
set newName to 0
set theFolder to (choose folder with prompt "Choose Folder" ...
- 7,421
4
votes
Renaming files sequentially from folder name with Automator
Using Automator for the Folder Action
In the Automator Folder Action image further below in this answer, pay attention to the Automator actions and their settings. In particular, the Options set on ...
- 57.5k
3
votes
What is the best way to update the name of a Service?
After renaming the .workflow file in Finder, open the file in Automator and then save the file (press ⌘ command + S). The file must be re-saved in Automator if you want the new name to appear in the ...
- 5,370
3
votes
Batch change creation dates based on file names
Since you asked how you could tweak what you already had, you'd change the capture groups in the first occurrence of sed to match the new pattern, while leaving the second sed as is. Also double quote ...
- 57.5k
3
votes
How to change Logical Volume name
Two approaches:
Try using the Volume UUID instead of the name:
diskutil rename LVUUID newName
So, in your case, issue the command:
diskutil rename DF2B66E8-0534-430A-B9F6-5697E4E294B2 OSX
Change it ...
- 97.5k
3
votes
How to batch rename files via Terminal using the file's date as filename?
for f in *.jpg; do
echo mv "$f" "$(stat -f '%Sm' -t '%Y-%m-%d %H.%M.%S' "$f")".jpg
done
Remove the echo once you are sure that the command looks ok.
- 97.1k
3
votes
Prepend folder names to file name and flatten file structure
@nohillside 's answer above is great actually. The only issue with it is that it does not account for files with spaces in them. That will cause some of the commands to fail.
So I'm putting an answer ...
- 147
3
votes
Accepted
Apple Maps: Renaming Favorites or Marked Locations
To rename favorites in Maps on macOS (source):
Click on the magnifying glass in the search field
Click Favorites
Click "Edit" in the bottom right
Click on a Favorite's name to modify it
Press return ...
- 3,045
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible