Introduction

This is a tool I wrote to allow me to quickly rename a large number of files (particularly in my case a large collection of IMAGE_###.jpg files) so that I could extract them from one source (my digital camera) and store them on my PC without worrying about overwrites.  Can be run directly (without parameters; launches the GUI) or used via the command line for batch processes.

It's Windows-based, open source (GNU), and solely written, maintained, hosted, and supported by me, Sean Shrum. Source code is written with AutoIT (.au3) and the most recent version can be found via the source link in the navbar above.  If you're just looking for the latest binary build, it can be downloaded from the binary link in the navbar above. Click here to get my list of AutoIT tools.

Usage

Running the renamer.exe will display a builder mode GUI that can be used to define your initial rename process.  There is a button on the GUI (Make shortcut) that will allow you to create a command line like shortcut to reuse the renaming definition that you define so you can use it again and again.  Please make note that Renamer will only rename files in their current folders....it will not move them to a different location.

Alternatively, you can structure your own command line call as well.  Here are the available arguments:

• Directory
  ...[required] the source folder that contains the files you want to rename
• Subdirectories
  ...y/n; whether or not to search and rename files in subdirectories under the source folder
• Find
  ...[required] text string to find to trigger a rename; omit for all
• Case-sensitive
  ...y/n; whether or not to match the find text via case-sensitivity
• Replacement
  ...string of text to replace over the find text; leave blank to have the find text removed
• Token
  ...the complete new name for any file that matches the find text (must contain at least [enum] or [basename] otherwise dupes can be made).  See Tokens below for a complete list.
• Enumeration
  ...(used with token); number to start enumerating at; defaults to 1
• Zeropad
  ...(used with token); number of 0's to pad the enumeration at, defaults to 3
• Increment
  ...(used with token); increment value of the enumeration; defaults to 1

You can use the full argument name or just the first letter like this:

renamer d="s:\my photos" f=.jpg c=y t="[year][mnum0][mdaynum0] [enum].[ext]"

Note that any argument whose value contains a <space> in it must be contained within dbl-quotes.

Ultimately, if you are uncomfortable with creating the command-line, just run Renamer and use the GUI interface to create the shortcut for you.

Tokens

Renamer has the following tokens that can be used:

[basename] [ext] [enum] [year] [yr] [mnum0] [mnum] [month] [mon] [mdaynum0] [mdaynum] [wdaynum0] [wdaynum] [weekday] [wday] [hour24] [hour0] [hour] [ampm] [min] [sec]

These are pretty self explanatory so if your confused with one or more of them, test them out on a test folder of files.  Additionally, these tokens are listed in the Builder mode GUI interface.

Minimally, at least [basename] or [enum] must be present in any token renames as the omission of one of these tokens will result in duplicate filenames.  Renamer will warn you if this situation is encountered.

Donations

If you like this utility, try to send a $5 bucks to feed my Dr. Pepper / digital toys fund.  This will help motivate me to continue development on this project and prove to my wife that I can make a buck doing open source programming.  Links to PayPal and my address can be found here or you can use the Donate SysTray option in most of my programs.

Support

If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, etc., please make sure to read my Support & Legal page first.  If you question is not answered after reading that page, feel free to use the Support button / Systray menu in my applications to submit a request.  I welcome all input and hope you find my application helpful.