Ever had a bunch of files you gave the wrong name? I did that recently when I imported a bunch of photos from my digital camera. The files all went to a single album (and folder), when they should have gone into two different ones. To correct this, I downloaded a tiny app created by programmer Nathan Downes. It looks like he wrote the app for his own purposes, but like the other programcitos on the website, he has volunteered it to the public without any license or cost attached.
The program has no documentation, faq, or help links but frankly it is such a simple app that I got it right on the first try. Luck, to be sure. There's no menu and there's only one screen. Still, because it is so hard to find such an application I wanted to not only show others that this program exists, but how to actually use it.
Note: if your files are of any import, you should make a backup copy of them first before you set out to rename them en masse. That way, if you make a mistake you can undo it with ease.
The screenshot below summarizes what happened here; a set of photos called 'blauwkamps' are in a folder called 'naumanns'. Not what I wanted.
My solution: download and launch the brename executable. There is a link for the download at the end of this post.
With the program open, enter a value into the File filter field. If you have some files you do not want renamed, this is your chance to leave them out. In my case, a wildcard (the asterisk) was enough to specify that the entire set of files in the folder should be renamed. From string is where you enter the current name to be changed, and To string is where you enter the new name. Working dir is the full path of the files you are manipulating.
Click on Go and you *should see* your files renamed quickly and predictably!
This program will work for a good chunk of file renaming needs, but is by no means a contender with the commercial programs out there. It is able to replace or remove a string, but doesn't specifically add prefixes and suffixes, doesn't change ID3 tags in MP3s, and doesn't touch the descriptions built into JPEG files.
Thanks to Nathan Downes for publishing a piece of freeware that is simple, purpose-built, and no strings attached. It boggles the mind to think that a Windows Vista operating system with its $200+ price tag can't batch rename files, but such is life.
Batch File Rename
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