Neat DOS trick

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

My son needed to change filenames within a bunch of folders using DOS.
(cmd.exe). Together we found an easier way to enter the folder names on the
DOS command line. Open DOS at the parent level of the folders. Open
Explorer. Now you can click and drag the Explorer folder name to add to the
DOS command line. Just click on the folder name in Explorer and drag it to
the DOS window on the command line. Saves a lot of typing and typing
errors. Many of his pictures downloaded with a suffix of .jpe rather than
..jpg. Using the above method to get to a particular folder he just typed
ren *.jpe *.jpg and hit enter. This changed all filenames ending in .jpe
to .jpg. Then he repeated in the next folder.

Perhaps one of you might know another way around this. The /s switch which
would include sub-directories doesn't work with the rename command. If it
would work he could have just chosen the parent folder and typed ren *.jpe
*.jpg /s. That would do them all (if it worked).

--

Darrell R. Schmidt
B-58 Hustler History: http://members.cox.net/dschmidt1/
-

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Darrell S wrote:
> My son needed to change filenames within a bunch of folders using DOS.
> (cmd.exe). Together we found an easier way to enter the folder names on the
> DOS command line. Open DOS at the parent level of the folders. Open
> Explorer. Now you can click and drag the Explorer folder name to add to the
> DOS command line. Just click on the folder name in Explorer and drag it to
> the DOS window on the command line. Saves a lot of typing and typing
> errors. Many of his pictures downloaded with a suffix of .jpe rather than
> .jpg. Using the above method to get to a particular folder he just typed
> ren *.jpe *.jpg and hit enter. This changed all filenames ending in .jpe
> to .jpg. Then he repeated in the next folder.
>
> Perhaps one of you might know another way around this. The /s switch which
> would include sub-directories doesn't work with the rename command. If it
> would work he could have just chosen the parent folder and typed ren *.jpe
> *.jpg /s. That would do them all (if it worked).
>

The easiest way to do it, at least the easiest way that I've found, is
to use a program that is actually designed for the job. Personally I use
"The Rename" available for free (but voluntary donations are accepted)
at http://www.herve-thouzard.com . It allows renaming based on an
unimaginably-wide array of options but if one keeps to the more simple
ones it is relatively easy to wrap one's mind around. There are other
programs out there to do the job but this one is free and flexible and
fast and that is a hard-to-beat combination.

John McGaw
http://johnmcgaw.com
[Knoxville, TN, USA]