Score:2

Ubuntu

How to rename multiple files and folders recursively that include * and other symbols not valid for filenames/folders?

Silver

1/2/24, 4:34 PM

For somewhat reason, my Ubuntu Mate 20.04 let me include * and other symbols apparently not valid for a filename or folder. But now I need to copy a lot of archives (like 15,000) to another PC. I don't know how to make a script for this, so I need help with it to let me rename everything inside a folder and the name of that folder also, example:

Folders:

701*math**2nd

100*eng**1st

etc...

Archives:

800-task**201.xls

508-ok*10**300.doc

etc...

I just need to remove the characters, exchanging the * for a _ or just remove the character from the name of file, because file manager doesn't let me copy them to an external HDD.

**EDIT: This worked! https://askubuntu.com/a/1302061/1661703

744

1 + 6

command-line

bash

scripts

directory

rename

FedKad

1/2/24, 4:42 PM

`*` is a perfectly valid character for file names (if you are using EXTx file system format). The _only_ invalid characters are `/` and NUL. However, if you are trying to store files with `*` and other special characters not valid on an NTFS file system, then you have to replace these. For more info see this: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1976007/what-characters-are-forbidden-in-windows-and-linux-directory-names

Silver

1/2/24, 4:48 PM

I didnt know that, so in this case I need to remove these characters so I can copy them to a NTFS filesystem

FedKad

1/2/24, 4:56 PM

If your external disk is just empty (that is, it will be used only to transfer files) *and* your target PC is also Linux, I would recommend formatting your external disk as EXT4 (and *not* NTFS or some variant of FAT).

Silver

1/2/24, 5:02 PM

I need to transfer those files to a windows Pc, so I still need to convert them

Silver

1/2/24, 6:19 PM

This worked: https://askubuntu.com/a/1302061/1661703

pierrely

1/4/24, 8:42 AM

you could install Krusader with Krename, Tools, Search , save to listbox, then File, Multirename, Find and Replace, Add , * to _ ... what I cannot do is search, or filter the results, for only files with an * in them, though if all satisfy that, then select all to krenam, or select manually. one advantage here is being able to see the renames before applying them.

Score:0

Ubuntu

Raffa

1/2/24, 4:50 PM

You can use the rename command with recursive shell globbing from the parent directory containing all your directories and files that you need to be renamed like so:

shopt -s globstar
rename -n 'y/\*/_/' **/*
shopt -u globstar

Or (to avoid a Argument list is too long error) with find and rename from the same parent directory like so:

find -exec rename -n 'y/\*/_/' {} \+

The option -n is for dry-run … Remove it when satisfied with the output to do the actual renaming.

Additional raname syntax:

To change each multiple sequence of *(e.g. ** or *** etc.) to a single _, use:
```
rename -n 's/[\*]+/_/g'
```
To match and substitute multiple different characters(e.g. *, ? and : etc.), use:
```
rename -n 's/[\*\?\:]+/_/g'
```
To just remove the matching characters from the names, use empty substitution string like so:
```
rename -n 's/[\*\?\:]+//g'
```

Notices:

Please notice that due to directories being renamed as well(if their names contain matching charackters e.g. *, ? or : etc.), some file paths already passed to rename as arguments might change during the process which will result in the error:
```
Can't rename ...: No such file or directory
```
preventing them from being renamed all at once so you need tor re-run the rename command until you get no errors anymore.
Please also notice that if two or more similar file/directory names share the same path and match different matching characters(e.g. file**one, file??one and file:one etc) then they will all be renamed to the same filename(e.g. file_one*) resulting in only the first name of its kind(*file/directory`) being renamed and the others will result in the error:
```
 ... not renamed: ... already exists
```
Therefore, in which case you will need to change the substitution character/s in the rename command in order to rename those remaining files/directories e.g. double _ like so:
```
rename -n 's/[\*\?\:]+/__/g'
```

+ 5

Silver

1/2/24, 5:26 PM

I get an error: "Argument list is too long"

Raffa

1/2/24, 5:35 PM

@Silver I updated the answer for that.

Raffa

1/2/24, 7:02 PM

@Silver I apologize ... There was an unintended mistake(*typo*) in the answer but now corrected ... I apologize again :-)

FedKad

1/3/24, 5:30 AM

The rename operation is a risky one. There is always a chance of name collision, because NTFS is case sensitive and you have to map more than one (forbidden) characters onto a single (`_`) character. Windows has also name restrictions on complete file / directory names.

Raffa

1/3/24, 7:57 AM

@FedKad Thank you for your feedback :-) Added your notes to the answer ... unfortunately as you know such a process can not simply and cleanly be done in one shot.

Elon Musk

I sit in a Tesla and translated this thread with Ai:

EN: How to rename multiple files and folders recursively that include * and other symbols not valid for filenames/folders?

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