A command line tool for find/replace in filenames (and even paths).

Replace.py

#!/usr/bin/env python -OO

import sys
import os

harmful = False
overwrite = False
full_path = False

def usage():
    print >> sys.stderr, "Usage:", sys.argv[0], "[--overwrite] [--fullpath] [really] replace find_string replace_string file1 ... fileN"
    print >> sys.stderr, "Usage:", sys.argv[0], "[--overwrite] [--fullpath] [really] regexp find_string replace_string file1 ... fileN"
    print >> sys.stderr, "Note: Unless --fullpath is specified, only the basename of the path of each file is affected."
    sys.exit( -1 )

argv = list( sys.argv )
if len( argv ) == 0: usage()

## Remove the program name
del argv[0]

## Find the index of the command (replace or regexp)
cmd_index = [ i for i, val in enumerate( argv ) if val in ( 'replace', 'regexp' ) ]
if len( cmd_index ) == 0: usage()
cmd_index = cmd_index[0]

def pop_argument( arg_name ):
    '''
    Given an argument name 'arg_name',
    removes it from the global variable 'argv' if present,
    and returns whether or not it was present.
    '''
    
    global argv, cmd_index
    
    try:
        index = argv.index( arg_name, 0, cmd_index )
    except ValueError:
        return False
    else:
        del argv[ index ]
        cmd_index -= 1
        return True

if pop_argument( '--overwrite' ):
    overwrite = True

if pop_argument( 'really' ):
    harmful = True

if pop_argument( '--fullpath' ):
    full_path = True

if len( argv ) < 4:
    usage()

cmd = argv[0]
find_str = argv[1]
replace_str = argv[2]
files = argv[ 3: ]

def replace( in_str, find_me, replace_me ):
    return in_str.replace( find_me, replace_me )

import re
def regexp( in_str, find_me, replace_me ):
    return re.sub( find_me, replace_me, in_str )


if cmd == 'replace':
    cmd = replace
elif cmd == 'regexp':
    cmd = regexp
else:
    usage()
    sys.exit( -1 )

for fname in files:
    
    ## remove trailing '/'s so that we rename the directory
    fname = fname.rstrip( os.path.sep )
    
    if not os.path.exists( fname ):
        print >> sys.stderr, "Error: No such file [" + fname + "]."
        continue
    
    if full_path:
        new_fname = cmd( fname, find_str, replace_str )
    else:
        path, basename = os.path.split( fname )
        
        new_basename = cmd( basename, find_str, replace_str )
        new_fname = os.path.join( path, new_basename )
    
    if new_fname == fname:
        print 'No changes to [' + fname + '].'
        continue
    
    print 'Renaming [' + fname + '] to [' + new_fname + '].'
    
    ## 3 move the file
    if os.path.exists( new_fname ):
        if overwrite:
            print >> sys.stderr, "Replacing already existing file [" + new_fname + "]."
        else:
            print >> sys.stderr, "Error: Refusing to replace already existing file [" + new_fname + "]."
            continue
    
    if harmful:
        os.rename( fname, new_fname )

if not harmful:
    print >> sys.stderr, "Dry run complete. If you like what you see, run with 'really'."

sys.exit( 0 )