There are several ways to achieve this, but i ’ll explain two of the most efficient and reliable methods. For the purpose of this guide, we have used a directory named Files which has the following structure:
# find Files -depth
List Directory Structure
1. Using find, xargs and rename Commands Together
rename is a simple command line utility for renaming several files at once in Linux. You can use it together with find utility to rename all files or subdirectories in a particular directory to lowercase as follows:
$ find Files -depth | xargs -n 1 rename -v 's/(.*)\/([^\/]*)/$1\/\L$2/' {} \;
-depth– lists each directory’s contents before the directory itself.-n 1– instructs xargs to use at most one argument per command line from find output.
Sample output after renaming files and subdirectories to lowercase in Files directory.
Rename Files and Directory Names to Lowercase
Another alternative way using the find and mv commands in a script as explained below.
2. Using find and mv Commands in Shell Script
First create your script (you can name it anything you prefer):
$ cd ~/bin $ vi rename-files.sh
Then add the code below in it.
#!/bin/bash
#print usage
if [ -z $1 ];then
echo "Usage :$(basename $0) parent-directory"
exit 1
fi
#process all subdirectories and files in parent directory
all="$(find $1 -depth)"
for name in ${all}; do
#set new name in lower case for files and directories
new_name="$(dirname "${name}")/$(basename "${name}" | tr '[A-Z]' '[a-z]')"
#check if new name already exists
if [ "${name}" != "${new_name}" ]; then
[ ! -e "${new_name}" ] && mv -T "${name}" "${new_name}"; echo "${name} was renamed to ${new_name}" || echo "${name} wasn't renamed!"
fi
done
echo
echo
#list directories and file new names in lowercase
echo "Directories and files with new names in lowercase letters"
find $(echo $1 | tr 'A-Z' 'a-z') -depth
exit 0
Save and close the file, then make the script executable and run it:
$ chmod +x rename-files.sh $ rename-files.sh Files #Specify Directory Name
Lowercase File Names Using Script
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