Question 216667 in Debian Question posted in
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Debian – Perl Rename command to add number sequence to folder & filenames (Linux)

I was wondering if someone would be able to help me create commands that would allow me to add three different types of sequenced numbering to folder & filenames.
I am looking for these commands to be created using the Perl Rename command in Linux for Debian based systems.
Would like them to be for any file type extension so I will use “.ext” as a placeholder in my examples below.

1.) The first one would be a prefix number sequence pattern with two digits. 1-9 get a single “0” padding in front.
"## – filename.ext"

01 – Apple.ext
02 – Orange.ext
03 – Banana.ext
10 – Grape.ext
11 – Watermelon.ext

2.) The second pattern is a suffix number sequence pattern similar to above.
"filename – ##.ext"

Apple - 01.ext
Apple - 02.ext
Apple - 10.ext

3.) The third pattern is a suffix number sequence pattern. 1-9 are only one digit, no “0” padding desired.
"filename (#).ext"

Apple (1).ext
Apple (2).ext
Apple (3).ext
Apple (10).ext
Apple (11).ext

Thank You for any help provided

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Answers


  1. Chosen as BEST ANSWER
    0

    Thank you again for your response, I am unfamiliar with some of the coding choices so I took what little I do know and combined it with some of the items from your code and was able to generate working commands for both 2.) & 3.). Anyone viewing this in the future just keep in mind that they seem to work but may cause unknown issues. Figured I would share because as mentioned I feel these could really be helpful to others as well.

    I am using "Apple" as the example for filenames and ".ext" as example for file extension.

    2.) Produces “Apple - ##.ext”

    'our $i||="00"; $i++; s/(.*)(.[^.]+$)/Apple - $i$2/' *

    3.) Produces “Apple (#).ext”

    '++$a; s/(.*)(.[^.]+$)/Apple ($a)$2/' *

    If anyone has any advice to improve these, I am open to hearing them, but for now this is the best I can do, hopefully others will find this helpful in the future. Thanks again for your help to get me there.


  2. 0

    Perl rename is quite strict about variable declarations, so saving state between each filename is not completely trivial.

    The expression passed into rename is wrapped into a Perl subroutine using an eval, and the subroutine is invoked on every filename. So using my $var would result in a variable that is reset on each call.

    Using pre-existing global variables like $a or $b are good for "one-liners" but if extra persistent variables are needed, or more complex initialisation, it turns out that simply declaring in a BEGIN or using our is also possible.

    With that, here are some ideas:

    rename 'BEGIN{$a="01"} s/^/$a - /; $a++' *

    rename 'our $i||="00"; $i++; s/.ext$/ - $i$&/' *

    rename '++$a; s/.ext$/ ($a)$&/' *

    The first two use Perl’s magic ++ on a string.
    An alternative would be to call sprintf. For example:

    rename '$b = sprintf "%02d", ++$a; s/^/$b - /' *

    Replace .ext$ with suitable regex to match your definition of "extension".

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