Batch file & folder renaming in Windows Powershell

Question

I have hundred thousands files located in ~40 folders (these subfolders being located in a same super-folder which I am going to call 'test'). I have tried to use powershell to replace a syntax found in the folder name but also in the filenames.

Basically my folders and files contains the same string of characters "PXXXX_0" that I want to batch rename in "PXXXX_"

Here is the code I used to first map the files & folders of interest

cd C:\test

Get-ChildItem -Filter "*PXXXX_0*" -Recurse | Rename-Item -NewName {$_.name -replace 'PXXXX_0', 'PXXXX_'} -whatif

This gives me the right files and previewed action (e.g.

What if: Performing operation "Rename File" on Target "Item: C:\test\PXXXX_053\PXXXX_053_558.jpg Destination C:\test\PXXXX_053\PXXXX_53_558.jpg

So this seems to work, but only on the files inside the folders that I also want to rename.

Now if I launch the code without -whatif it appears that only the folder names are rename, not the files...

I pretty sure I have missed something but since I am not really familiar with this language, I am struggling to find the solution. I am using Powershell v1.0

Thanks for any help.

Best

Presumably once the folder is renamed, the file paths inside the folder are wrong because the folder no longer exists under that name. Try renaming the files first by filtering .. -Recurse|where-object { -not $_.PsIsContainer } | Rename-Item .. and then redo it to rename the folders, maybe? — TessellatingHeckler
– TessellatingHeckler, Commented Jul 6, 2017 at 18:24

Ty Savercool · Accepted Answer · 2017-07-06 19:04:56Z

One Liner:

 $items = get-childitem -filter "*PXXXX_0*" -Recurse; foreach ($item in $items) { $newName = $item.fullname -replace 'PXXXX_0', 'PXXXX_'; rename-item $item.fullname -NewName $newName; }

Easy on the eyeballs:

$items = get-childitem -filter "*PXXXX_0*" -Recurse;
foreach ($item in $items) { 
  $newName = $item.fullname -replace 'PXXXX_0', 'PXXXX_'; 
  rename-item $item.fullname -NewName $newName; 
}

In short, PowerShell 1 was trying to rename the file with just the file name, not the full path. Basically it was not able to find your files when they were in subfolders.

I tested your logic in v5 and it works like you would expect it to.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume you are trying to run this script via System Center Orchestrator since you are working with PowerShell v1. I've felt that pain. I recommend wrapping all your PS scripts headed for runbooks in invoke-command -scriptblock {} -Credential $myCreds blocks. This promotes the execution to the target system's version of PowerShell. It also makes it very easy to tack on a -ComputerName to run the script on the target instead of the runbook server.

You can then store a username and password pair as Orchestrator variables ( use the encryption option ) and insert them in your get-credential statement above. It feels very messy at first but you get used to it.

to test this, I ran PowerShell with -version 1. Here is my $PSVersionTable:

Name                           Value
----                           -----
CLRVersion                     2.0.50727.8689
BuildVersion                   6.1.7600.16385
PSVersion                      2.0
WSManStackVersion              2.0
PSCompatibleVersions           {1.0, 2.0}
SerializationVersion           1.1.0.1
PSRemotingProtocolVersion      2.1

It had the same problem but it might not be a 1 for 1 match to what Orchestrator is going to run in. Post Output if it does not work and I'll do my best.

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