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I have on a Samba server lots of files in directories/subdirectories containing special chars. The problem is that, the files (containing a special chars) are not visible when I try to view files using Windows. So I wrote command (on the below) to change names of files with special characters, but putting back renamed files to dirs/subdirs doesn't work properly:

find . -type f -exec rename -v 's/[^a-zA-Z0-9 &](?=[^.]*\.)/_/g' '{}' \;

On the bottom I post current directory containing files to rename:

./dir 1/fil[special char]e3.jpg
./dir 1/another dir2/m[special char]r.file1.txt
./dir 1/another dir2/file[special char]2.doc
./dir 3/next dir4/dir 5/fi[special char]le5.xml
./file 4.zip

Expect - after using command described above (files in dirs/subdirs):

./dir 1/fil_e 3.jpg
./dir 1/another dir2/m_r_file1.txt
./dir 1/another dir2/file_2.doc
./dir 3/next dir4/dir 5/fi_le5.xml
./file 4.zip

reality - files in same folder where I run command:

__dir 1_fil_e 3.jpg
__dir 1_another dir 2_m_r_file1.txt
__dir 1_another dir 2_file_2.doc
__dir 3_next dir4_dir 5_fi_le5.xml
__file 4.zip

and I have 2 questions:

  1. how I can exclude pathname from filename?
  2. how to put files in to directories?
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  • 1
    Does your implementation of find have a -execdir? Commented Jul 4, 2017 at 20:05
  • On 99% - yes, samba runs on debian 8 so give me a moment to check Commented Jul 4, 2017 at 20:54
  • it works! ;) Thank you @steeldriver for help, problem solved Commented Jul 4, 2017 at 21:19

1 Answer 1

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If you have it, use the -execdir option for find instead of -exec.

  • -exec runs the command from the root of the command with each path as an argument
  • -execdir runs the command in the target directory with each filename as an argument

Thus,

find . -type f -execdir rename -v 's/[^a-zA-Z0-9 &](?=[^.]*\.)/_/g' '{}' \;

Please note, that since this answer was posted, the rename command referenced in the question and this answer has been overtaken by an alternative: rename [options] expression replacement file…. The rename shown here may be available on your system as prename. If not, you can download and install it using this recipe.

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  • Thank you too @roaima for explanation of the difference between -exec and -execdir, problem solved Commented Jul 4, 2017 at 22:08
  • Watch out, on some linux rename is a util-linux simple string replacement Usage: rename [options] expression replacement file..., on others rename is a perl tool (as in this example) with more complex expression replace learnbyexample.github.io/learn_perl_oneliners/… Commented Jul 18, 2022 at 11:44
  • @gaoithe yes. However, when I wrote my question the perl version of rename was far more prevalent, and it matched the version the OP was using in their question Commented Jul 18, 2022 at 11:59
  • @roaima Your answer is a very good one. The combination of -execdir and rename with find should be more widely known. I just added comment as the other rename is the default on many systems - unfortunately! - because the perl rename has proper expression replacement. Anyway, it's all good. Link to GNU rename reference: man7.org/linux/man-pages/man1/rename.1.html Commented Jul 18, 2022 at 12:08
  • 1
    @gaoithe thank you for the information. I've amended the answer to incorporate a similar suggestion Commented Jul 18, 2022 at 13:11

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