Replace file/folder names in Windows

Owned by Genhan Chen
Last updated: Oct 04, 2018
1 min read

This solution was also introduced in  CPPD-55 - Getting issue details... STATUS

Sample Command

for /D /r %x in (1*Initial*Posting) do (ren "%x" 1-Pre-Advertisement)
  • Loop the current directory, and find all the files/folders with name "1*Initial*Posting"
  • Replace the file/folder "1*Initial*Posting" with a new name "1-Pre-Advertisement"
  • There are two wildcards in DOS:

* = matches up with any combination of allowable characters

? = matches up with any single allowable character

  • No space is allowed in a file/folder name


Therefore the commend can also be modified being more specific as:

for /D /r %x in (1-Initial?Posting) do (ren "%x" 1-Pre-Advertisement)

or

for /D /r %x in (1?Initial?Posting) do (ren "%x" 1-Pre-Advertisement)

Reference

https://www.ahuka.com/?page_id=31