Renaming files like 20141207_190822.jpg to “2014-12-07 19.08.22.jpg” in linux or MacOS X

Question

How in Linux or MacOS X to rename a bunch of files with names 20141207_190822.jpg and 20141207_190823.mp4 to this format:

2014-12-07 19.08.22.jpg and 2014-12-07 19.08.23.mp4

?

I've found many examples how to just add something to the beginning of filename, but here I need to change the mask by inserting symbols in the middle of filenames and replacing _ with space " ".

Thank you

Answer 1

Try doing this :

$ rename 's@^(\d{4})(\d{2})(\d{2})_(\d{2})(\d{2})(\d{2})@$1-$2-$3 $4.$5.$6@' *

There are other tools with the same name which may or may not be able to do this, so be careful.

If you run the following command :

$ file $(readlink -f $(type -p rename))

and you have a result like

.../rename: Perl script, ASCII text executable

then this seems to be the right tool =)

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If you don't have this command, search your package manager to install it or do it manually

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Last but not least, this tool was originally written by Larry Wall, the Perl's dad.