crossrename 1.6.0

Table of Contents

• Introduction

• Features

• Installation

• Usage

  • Examples

  • Unicode Alternatives Mode

  • Safety First

• Platform Compatibility

• Why did I build this?

• Contributing

• Wait a minute, who are you?

• License

• Changelog

Introduction

CrossRename is a command-line tool designed to harmonize file and directory names across Linux, Windows, and macOS systems. It ensures that your file names are compatible with all three operating systems, eliminating naming conflicts when transferring files between different environments.

Features

• Sanitizes file names to be Windows-compatible (and thus Linux-compatible and macOS-compatible)

• Byte-aware filename truncation (correctly handles CJK, Cyrillic, emoji, and other multi-byte UTF-8 characters)

• Option to replace forbidden characters with Unicode lookalikes instead of removing them

• Optionally renames directories to be cross-platform compatible

• Handles both individual files and entire directories

• Supports recursive renaming of files in subdirectories

• Preserves file extensions, including compound extensions like .tar.gz

• Provides informative logging

• Provides a dry-run mode to preview renaming changes without executing them

• Interactive safety warnings with option to skip for automation

• Skips recursive symlinks to avoid infinite loops

back to introduction

Installation

From PyPI (Using PIP)

pip install CrossRename

back to introduction

Usage

usage: crossrename [-h] [-p PATH] [-v] [-u] [-r] [-d] [-D] [-a] [--force] [-q] [--credits] [--max-filename-bytes N]

Harmonize file and directory names for Linux, Windows and macOS.

options:
  -h, --help                  show this help message and exit
  -p, --path PATH             The path to the file or directory to rename.
  -v, --version               Prints out the current version and quits.
  -u, --update                Check if a new version is available.
  -r, --recursive             Rename all files in the directory path given and its subdirectories. When used with -D, also renames subdirectories.
  -d, --dry-run               Perform a dry run, logging changes without renaming.
  -D, --rename-directories    Also rename directories to be cross-platform compatible. Use with caution!
  -a, --use-alternatives      Replace forbidden characters with Unicode lookalikes instead of removing them. May cause display issues on some systems.
  --force                     Skip safety prompts (useful for automated scripts)
  -q, --quiet                 Suppress 'No change needed' and other informational messages. Only shows files that are actually renamed, plus warnings and errors.
  --credits                   Show credits and support information
  --max-filename-bytes N      Maximum filename length in bytes (default: 255, valid range: 16-255). Filenames exceeding this limit will be truncated. The default of 255 bytes ensures compatibility with Linux filesystems (ext4, btrfs). Multi-byte characters (CJK, Cyrillic, emoji) consume more bytes per character.

Made with <3 by Emmanuel Jemeni | Send Feedback: https://tally.so/r/7Rjpgz?project=CrossRename

back to introduction

crossrename -p /path/to/file.txt

crossrename -p /path/to/directory -r

crossrename -p /path/to/directory -r -D

crossrename -p /path/to/problematic_directory -D

crossrename -p /path/to/directory -r -D -d

crossrename -p /path/to/directory -r -D --force

crossrename -p /path/to/file.txt -a

crossrename -u

crossrename --credits

crossrename -p /path/to/directory -r --max-filename-bytes 255

crossrename -p /path/to/directory -r -d -q
# Only shows [Dry-run] Would rename: ... lines and skips "No change needed" noise

crossrename -p "file<name>.txt" --use-alternatives
 # Result: "fileᐸnameᐳ.txt" instead of "filename.txt"

Platform Compatibility

CrossRename works on:

• Windows

• Linux

• macOS

The tool sanitizes filenames to be compatible with the most restrictive filesystem (Windows), ensuring files work everywhere. This means:

• Removing Windows-forbidden characters: < > : " / \ | ? *

• Handling Windows reserved names: CON, PRN, AUX, NUL, COM1-9, LPT1-9

• Removing trailing spaces and periods

• Removing control characters

• Limiting filenames to 255 bytes (for ext4/btrfs compatibility; configurable via --max-filename-bytes)

Since Windows has the strictest rules, files renamed by CrossRename will work on Linux and macOS without issues.

back to introduction

Why did I build this?

So I was dual-booting Windows 10 and Lubuntu 22.04, and one day I’m trying to move some files between the two systems. Five files just wouldn’t copy over because of what I later found out were the differences in Windows and Linux’s file naming rules.

That got me thinking because I’d already built a Python package that had to deal with some file creation and renaming ( It’s called FicImage, please check it out 🫶) before, so I had an idea or two about how to go about this.

Long story short, I got annoyed enough to build CrossRename. Now I don’t have to deal with file naming headaches when switching between systems.

back to introduction

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! If you’d like to improve CrossRename please feel free to submit a pull request.

Especially welcome:

• macOS/APFS testing and feedback (currently untested on real macOS hardware)

• Linux testing and feedback (on native linux)

• Edge case handling for Unicode normalization differences

• Performance improvements for large directory trees

• Other Operating Systems

• Any other thing I forgot to list here

back to introduction

Wait a minute, who are you?

Hello there! I’m Emmanuel Jemeni, and while I primarily work as a Frontend Developer, Python holds a special place as my first programming language. You can find me on various platforms:

• LinkedIn

• GitHub

• BlueSky

• Twitter/X

back to introduction

License

MIT License

back to introduction

Changelog

Changelog

back to introduction