Dialog box - Multi-rename tool
With this dialog box, you can rename a list of files selected in
Total Commander. Instead of * and ? wildcards, this function uses placeholders
in brackets []. The new names are immediately shown in the result list, but the
files are not renamed until the Start! button is pressed.
New in TC9: When there are name collisions, e.g. because
the rename mask leads to multiple files with the same name, or a file with that
name already existed, then you get the option to auto-rename the files to "name
(2).ext", "name (3).ext" etc. This will not be shown in the preview.
Field Description
Rename mask: file name
With this field, you can create a
definition for a new file name. The buttons below allow to insert place holders
for the previous name, parts of the name, a counter, file date/time, or a
plugin field. The + and # buttons allow to
insert less used fields like the parent directory name. Place holders are always
in brackets [ ], while all other letters (without brackets) will be placed in
the new name without a change.
See below for a description of all
available placeholders! Use Shift+Del to remove no longer wanted entries from
the list.
Files can now also be moved to other
directories by specifying directory separators "\" (backslashes) in the name.
Directories which do not exist yet will be created automatically.
Extension Definition string for
extension. In principle, all placeholders can be added to either of the two
definition boxes. The rename tool will create a rename string like this: Fields
in name mask + "." + Fields in extension mask. The reason why the two fields are
separated is to prevent the accidental removal of file extensions, which would
remove the association of files with a certain program.
Search & Replace The string
entered in the field 'Search for' is replaced by the string in 'Replace with'.
The text in 'search for' is NOT case sensitive! Both fields support the
placeholders (wildcards) * and ?. A * stands for any number of characters, a ?
for exactly one character.
This function is applied AFTER the rename
mask!
You can search+replace multiple strings in
one step! The strings need to be separated by the vertical line (Alt+124).
Example: Replace
Umlauts+Accents:
Search for: ä|ö|ü|é|è|ê|à Replace with:
ae|oe|ue|e|e|e|a
^ Respect upper-/lowercase. Can be
used to replace uppercase characters with other characters than lowercase.
Example: Replace Umlauts+Accents
considering upper/lowercase:
Search for: ä|ö|ü|é|è|ê|à|Ä|Ö|Ü|É|È|Ê|À
Replace with: ae|oe|ue|e|e|e|a|AE|OE|UE|E|E|E|A
1x Only replace the first occurrence
of the search string if it appears multiple times in the file name
[E] Also replace the search text
within the extension.
Rules for the case that this option is not
checked:
1. When using the rename mask, only the
part in "File name" will be modified by search+replace.
2. When loading the names from an external
text file, the part starting with the last dot will not be modified.
Example: To replace all dots in the
file name except for the one separating name and extension, uncheck this
box.
Subst. Substitution: The entire file
name will be replaced by the characters entered in the "Replace" field. If this
option isn't checked, only the found expression will be replaced. You can work
with subexpressions, see the sample in
regular
expressions.
Upper/lowercase Converts the whole
string to uppercase/lowercase/first letter uppercase,rest lowercase. This
function is applied AFTER the rename mask and after search&replace. Use the
[U], [L] and [n] placeholders to convert only certain parts of the name to
upper/lowercase!
New: First of each word uppercase
(English in Titles) excludes the following words from uppercase conversion,
except at the start or end:
a,an,the,at,by,for,in,of,on,to,from,up,and,as,but,or,nor,yet,so,vs
![]()
Opens a context menu with the following options:
Load names from file: Specify a text
file from which the new names should be loaded
Edit names: Save current target
names to a text file, edit them, and paste back.
Configure editor: Choose a different
editor to edit the files. Make sure that the editor saves as plain text!
The menu can be opened with F10.
Define counter [C] Allows to define
the counter for the [C] field(s).
Start at: Number of the first file.
The files are always numbered the same way as they are shown in the result list.
You can sort the result list just like in the main Total Commander window.
Additionally you can reorder individual items using drag&drop, or
Shift+Cursor keys.
Step by: The counter is
increased/decreased by this value.
Digits: Width of the counter field.
If digits is >1, the rename tool will insert leading zeros to get a fixed
width number field.
F2 Load/save settings
Allows to load or save the settings of the
multi-rename tool.
Sets the default
settings (no changes to the names)
Save settings
Allows to save the current settings
Delete entry Deletes the last
selected entry from the list
Entry names Loads settings
saved earlier
Allows to
sort by old names, extensions, sizes or time stamps
Shows a list of
all files being renamed. The modified names are shown in the New name
column. All changes to the above fields are immediately shown in this column,
but the files are not actually renamed until the Start! button is
pressed. If the rename mask contains an error, the string
is shown.
Individual items can be moved up/down with
drag&drop or Shift+Cursor keys. This is useful for changing the file order
for the counter function.
![]()
(next step) Loads the rename results for the next rename step.
Useful if you want to apply multiple rename rules to the same set of files.
Shortcut: F5.
Start! Starts to rename files. There
will be a warning message if there are name conflicts.
Undo Tries to undo the rename
operation in reverse order (last renamed file first). This also works AFTER
closing the Multi-Rename-Tool! Just re-open it with any file(s).
Result list Creates a protocol of
the renamed files.
Close Closes the dialog box without
any further actions.
Here is a description of all available placeholders.
IMPORTANT: Upper/lowercase is relevant!
[N] old file name, WITHOUT
extension
[N1] The first character of the
original name
[N2-5] Characters 2 to 5 from the
old name (totals to 4 characters). Double byte characters (e.g. Chinese,
Japanese) are counted as 1 character! The first letter is accessed with
'1'.
[N2,5] 5 characters starting at
character 2
[N2-] All characters starting at
character 2
[N02-9] Characters 2-9, fill from
left with zeroes if name shorter than requested (8 in this example): "abc" ->
"000000bc"
[N 2-9] Characters 2-9, fill from
left with spaces if name shorter than requested (8 in this example): "abc" ->
" bc"
[N-8,5] 5 characters starting at
the 8-last character (counted from the end of the name)
[N-8-5] Characters from the
8th-last to the 5th-last character
[N2--5] Characters from the 2nd to
the 5th-last character
[N-5-] Characters from the 5th-last
character to the end of the name
[A] Old file name, WITH extension
(All characters of the name), without the path
[2-5] Characters 2-5 from the name
INCLUDING path and extension (other numbers as in [N] definition)
[P] Paste name of the parent
directory, e.g. when renaming c:\directory\file.txt -> pastes
"directory".
Also working: [P2-5],
[P2,5], [P-8,5], [P-8-5] and [P2-], see description
of [N] above.
[G] Grandparent directory (usage:
see [P]).
[E] Extension
[E1-2] Characters 1-2 from the
extension (same ranges as in [N] definition)
[C] Paste counter, as defined in
Define counter field
[C10+5:3] Paste counter, define
counter settings directly. In this example, start at 10, step by 5, use 3 digits
width.
Partial definitions like [C10] or
[C+5] or [C:3] are also accepted.
Hint: The fields in Define
counter will be ignored if you specify options directly in the [C]
field.
[C+1/100] New: Fractional
number: Paste counter, but increase it only every n files (in this example:
every 100 files).
Can be used to move a specific number of
files to a subdirectory,e.g. [C+1/100]\[N]
[Caa+1] Paste counter, define
counter settings directly. In this example, start at aa, step 1 letter, use 2
digits (defined by 'aa' width)
[C:a] Paste counter, determine
digits width automatically, depending on the number of files. Combinations like
[C10+10:a] are also allowed.
[T1] After this position, use last
modification date/time from renamed file for all date/time fields
(default).
Note: These are just switches! Use them
with the other time placeholders, e.g. [T1][YMD] [hms]
[T2] After this position, use
current date/time (when rename dialog was opened)
[T3] After this position, use
current date/time (when rename options were last changed)
[d] Paste date as defined in
current country settings. / is replaced by a dash
[Y] Paste year in 4 digit
form
[y] Paste year in 2 digit
form
[M] Paste month, always 2
digit
[D] Paste day, always 2 digit
[t] Paste time, as defined in
current country settings. : is replaced by a dot.
[h] Paste hours, always in 24 hour
2 digit format (0-23)
[H] Paste hours, always in 12 hour
2 digit format (1-12)
[i] am/pm indicator in English,
e.g. for time format 10.30pm. Use [i1] for just a or p, e.g. 10.30p.
[m] Paste minutes, always in 2
digit format
[s] Paste seconds, always in 2
digit format
[u] Convert all composite
characters (e.g. separate a and ^) to precomposed characters (â). Must be the
first placeholder in the command.
[U] All characters after this
position in uppercase
[L] All characters after this
position in lowercase
[F] First letter of each word
uppercase after this position, all others lowercase
[f] Like [F], but using rules for
English in titles (certain words like a, in, the, ... lowercase)
[n] All characters after this
position again as in original name (upper/lowercase unchanged)
[%x%\] Same as [%x%], but
only the last part of a path (e.g. c:\temp -> temp)
[%x%_] Same as [%x%], but
replace all backslashes in paths by the provided character (here: "_") and
remove the ":"
[[] Insert square bracket:
open
[]] Insert square bracket: close
(cannot be combined with other commands inside the square bracket!)
[=pluginname.fieldname.unit]
Insert field named "fieldname" from
content plugin named "pluginname". "unit" may be an optional unit (if supported
by that field), or a field formatter like YMD for date fields. You can use the
[=?] Plugin button to insert plugin fields.
[=pluginname.fieldname.unit:4-7]
Same as above, but for partial strings
(here: letters 4-7).
Supports the same ranges as the [N] field
(see above), including leading spaces or zeroes.
