rename command fails saying file exists when it doesn't

user3261738

3/28/24, 3:29 PM

I needed to change the case of filename extensions and used this command in a directory of 26 WAV files: rename 's/.WAV/.wav/' *.WAV It worked successfully. I then changed to a different directory where I needed to repeat the process. But the command failed with errors that the lower case named files already existed. The ls or even the ls -a command proved the files did NOT exist. Only the upper case files were there.

I'm using Ubuntu 22.04. Is there some explanation or is this a bug?

New edit: I just created a test directory under /opt and created 3 ".WAV" filenames. My original rename command above worked fine. ubfan1 may have identified a likely problem asking about a FAT file system since my original work was done on files on a usb stick and the files were created originally using Windows.

Conclusion: The rename command may not work directly on files on a usb stick. But those files can be copied to a working directory on your linux filesystem where the command works perfectly.

Thanks to you who responded. This was an example of how helpful "ask ubuntu" can be: responses within hours, presumably from around the world.

0 + 4

command-line

rename

22.04

steeldriver

3/28/24, 3:36 PM

Since `.WAV` on the LHS of a perl substitution will match any single character followed by `WAV` anywhere in the name, it's possible that the name conflict is not where you think it is - please [edit] your question to include a complete verbatim example of the exact command you used and its error message.

sudodus

3/28/24, 3:36 PM

Please list the files in the directory, where you have problems: Edit the original question and render the command and its output as `code`.

ubfan1

3/28/24, 3:41 PM

Was your different directory on a different (case insensitive) filesystem like FAT?

pLumo

3/28/24, 8:04 PM

Anyways, .... try `'s/\.WAV$/.wav/'`

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