ZMV-Examples (require autoload zmv)

zmv-examples.md

# rename a section of a filename, i. e. example.1.{txt,conf,db} or 12345.1.{wav,ogg,mp3} and
# change the 1 to a 2 in the filename while preserving the rest of it.
  $ zmv -n '(*.)(<->)(.[^.]#)' '$1$(($2+1))$3' # would rename x.0001.y to x.2.y.
  $ zmv -n '(*.0#)(<->)(.[^.]#)' '$1$(($2+1))$3'

# Rename files to lower case
  $ zmv '*' '${(L)f}'

# serially all files (foo.foo > 1.foo, fnord.foo > 2.foo, ..)
  $ autoload zmv
  $ ls *
  1.c  asd.foo  bla.foo  fnord.foo  foo.fnord  foo.foo
  $ c=1 zmv '*.foo' '$((c++)).foo'
  $ ls *
  1.c  1.foo  2.foo  3.foo  4.foo  foo.fnord

# Rename "file.with.many.dots.txt" by substituting dots (exept for the last
# one!) with a space
  $ touch {1..20}-file.with.many.dots.txt
  $ zmv '(*.*)(.*)' '${1//./ }$2'

# Remove the first 4 chars from a filename
  $ zmv -n '*' '$f[5,-1]' # NOTE: The "5" is NOT a mistake in writing!

# Rename names of all files under the current Dir to lower case, but keep Dir names as-is.
  $ zmv -Qv '(**/)(*)(.D)' '$1${(L)2}'

# replace all 4th character, which is "1",  with "2" and so on
  $ autoload -U zmv
  $ zmv '(???)1(???[1-4].txt)' '${1}2${2}'

# Remove the first 15 characters from a string
  $ touch 111111111111111{a-z}
  $ autoload zmv
  $ zmv '*' '$f[16,-1]'

# Replace spaces (any number of them) with a single dash in file names
  $ autload zmv
  $ zmv -n '(**/)(* *)' '$1${2//( #-## #| ##)/-}'
  # or - with Bash
  $ find . -depth -name '* *' -exec bash -c '
  > shopt -s extglob
  > file=$1
  > dir=${file%/*}
  > name=${file##*/}
  > newname=${name//*([ -]) *([ -])/-}
  > mv -i -- "$file" "$Dir/$newname"' {} {} \;

# Clean up file names and remove special characters
  $ autoload zmv
  $ zmv -n '(**/)(*)' '$1${2//[^A-Za-z0-9._]/_}'

# Add *.py to a bunch of python scripts in a directory (some of them end in *.py and give them
# all a proper extension
  $ autoload zmv
  $ zmv -n '(**/)(con*)(#qe,file $REPLY | grep "python script",)' '$1$2.py'

# lowercase all extensions (i. e. *.JPG) incl. subfolders
  $ autoload zmv
  $ zmv '(**/)(*).(#i)jpg' '$1$2.jpg'
  # Or - without Zsh
  $ find Dir -name '*.[jJ][pP][gG]' -print | while read f
  > do
  >      case $f in
  >       *.jpg) ;
  >       *) mv "$f" "${f%.*}.jpg" ;
  >       esac
  > done

# remove leading zeros from file extension
  $ autoload zmv
  $ ls
  filename.001  filename.003  filename.005  filename.007  filename.009
  filename.002  filename.004  filename.006  filename.008  filename.010
  $ zmv '(filename.)0##(?*)' '$1$2'
  $ ls
  filename.1  filename.10  filename.2  filename.3  filename.4  filename.5  filename.6 ...

# renumber files.
  $ autoload zmv
  $ ls *
  foo_10.jpg  foo_2.jpg  foo_3.jpg  foo_4.jpg  foo_5.jpg  foo_6.jpg  foo_7.jpg  foo_8.jpg  foo_9.jpg
  $ zmv -fQ 'foo_(<0->).jpg(.nOn)' 'foo_$(($1 + 1)).jpg'
  $ ls *
  foo_10.jpg  foo_11.jpg  foo_3.jpg  foo_4.jpg  foo_5.jpg  foo_6.jpg  foo_7.jpg  foo_8.jpg foo_9.jpg

# adding leading zeros to a filename (1.jpg -> 001.jpg, ..  
  $ autoload zmv
  $ zmv '(<1->).jpg' '${(l:3::0:)1}.jpg'

# See above, but now only files with a filename >= 30 chars
  $ autoload zmv
  $ c=1 zmv "${(l:30-4::?:)}*.foo" '$((c++)).foo'

# Replace spaces in filenames with a underline
  $ autoload zmv
  $ zmv '* *' '$f:gs/ /_'

# Change the suffix from *.sh to *.pl
  $ autoload zmv
  $ zmv -W '*.sh' '*.pl'

# Add a "".txt" extension to all the files within ${HOME}
  # ``-.'' is to only rename regular files or symlinks to regular files,
  # ``D'' is to also rename hidden files (dotfiles))
  $ autoload zmv
  $ zmv -Q '/home/**/*(D-.)' '$f.txt'
  # Or to only rename files that don't have an extension:
  $ zmv -Q '/home/**/^?*.*(D-.)' '$f.txt'

# Recursively change filenames with characters ? [ ] / = + < > ; : " , - *
  $ autoload zmv
  $ chars='[][?=+<>;",*-]'
  $ zmv '(**/)(*)' '$1${2//$~chars/%}'

# Removing single quote from filenames (recursively)
  $ autoload zmv
  $ zmv -Q "(**/)(*'*)(D)" "\$1\${2//'/}"

# When a new file arrives (named file.txt) rename all files in order to get (e. g.
# file119.txt becomes file120.txt, file118.txt becomes file119.txt and so on ending
# with file.txt becoming file1.txt
  $ autoload zmv
  $ zmv -fQ 'file([0-9]##).txt(On)' 'file$(($1 + 1)).txt'

# lowercase/uppercase all files/directories
  $ autoload zmv
  $ zmv '(*)' '${(L)1}' # lowercase
  $ zmv '(*)' '${(U)1}' # uppercase

# Remove the suffix *.c from all C-Files
  $ autoload zmv
  $ zmv '(*).c' '$1'

# Uppercase only the first letter of all *.mp3 - files
  $ autoload zmv
  $ zmv '([a-z])(*).mp3' '${(C)1}$2.mp3'

# Copy the target `README' in same directory as each `Makefile'
  $ autoload zmv
  $ zmv -C '(**/)Makefile' '${1}README'

# Removing single quote from filenames (recursively)
  $ autoload zmv
  $ zmv -Q "(**/)(*'*)(D)" "\$1\${2//'/}"

# Rename pic1.jpg, pic2.jpg, .. to pic0001.jpg, pic0002.jpg, ..
  $ autoload zmv
  $ zmv 'pic(*).jpg' 'pic${(l:4::0:)1}.jpg'
  $ zmv '(**/)pic(*).jpg' '$1/pic${(l:4::0:)2}.jpg' # recursively