Bulk search and replace in file names — bulk_file

Renames every file in a folder by replacing text in the file name, and optionally adding text to the start or end of the name. Give either a single pattern p and replacement r, or a table of several replacements in pr.

Usage

bulk_file_rename(
  datafolder = NULL,
  p = " ",
  r = "",
  suffix = "",
  prefix = "",
  pr = NULL
)

Arguments

datafolder: Folder containing the files to rename. If left as NULL, you will be asked to choose a folder.
p: Text to search for in each file name (literal match). Default is a single space.
r: Text to replace p with. Default is "" (i.e. delete p).
suffix: Text to add to the end of each file name (after the file extension).
prefix: Text to add to the start of each file name.
pr: A data.table (or data.frame) with columns p and r, one row for each replacement to make. If given, p and r are ignored.

Value

Nothing is returned; the function is called for its side effect of renaming files.

Details

With the default arguments it simply removes all spaces from the file names.

p is matched as a literal string (not a regular expression), and every occurrence in the name is replaced.
This function renames files in place, so there is no undo. Try it on a copy of your folder first.
If a file would be renamed to a name that already exists, it is left alone and a warning is given.

Examples

if (FALSE) { # \dontrun{
# remove spaces from all the file names in a folder
bulk_file_rename("my_data_folder")
# swap "_v1" for "_final"
bulk_file_rename("my_data_folder", p = "_v1", r = "_final")
} # }