dir-edit 3.1.0

Rename or remove files in a directory using an editor

Motivation

If you want to rename files in a directory, things get really cumbersome if:

• the name modifications are not easily automatable (e.g. spelling mistakes)

• file names contain spaces / special characters (when using a shell)

• you have to rename a lot of files (when using a GUI)

• you would need to use temporary files (e.g. mv a tmp ; mv b a ; mv tmp b)

• etc.

This script launches a used-defined text editor with a temporary file, where every line is a filename in the directory. This enables the user to rename (edit a line) or delete (blank line) entries. After saving and exiting the editor, the script checks the file for consistency, detects rename loops and finally performs the changes.

News

3.1.0	2025-11-28	Require Python 3.9, small test fixes
3.0.0	2021-03-29	Require Python 3.6 (no new features, just usage of “try … from”)
2.1.0	2017-05-01	Support renaming of intermediate dirs in recursive mode, drop --safe mode, small bugfixes
2.0.0	2017-03-22	Bugfixes, Python 3 support, -o and -L option, extensive test suite
1.1	2010-11-21	Bugfixes
1.0	2010-05-06	First working version

Examples

Rename non-hidden files in the current directory:

dir_edit

Rename mp3 files in the music directory using gedit:

dir_edit -e gedit ~/Music ~/Music/*.mp3

Review changes before executing them:

dir_edit -vd -L log.txt
view log.txt
sh -e log.txt

Rename pictures with maximum directory depth 2:

find pics -maxdepth 2 -type f -iregex ".*\.\(jpg\|png\)" > file_list
dir_edit -i file_list

Usage

dir_edit [OPTION]... [DIR] [FILES]...

  DIR        directory to edit (default: current directory)
  FILES      limit to these filenames (default: all non-hidden in directory)

Some options:

  -e CMD, --editor=CMD       use CMD to edit dirfile (default: $EDITOR or vi)
  -d, --dry-run              don't perform any file system modifications
  -v, --verbose              output filesystem modifications to stdout
  -L FILE, --logfile FILE    path to logfile for verbose mode (default: stdout)
  -i FILE, --input FILE      FILE containing paths to be edited

Copyright

Copyright (C) 2010-2025 Johannes Weißl

License GPLv3+:

GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>

This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.

There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.