Renaming pdf files with a batch file

Question

I need to either write a batch file or a vbscript that will rename files. I need to keep everything in the file name up to the second "." but delete what comes after the second dot.

This is a sample of what the file names look like:

nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.xxxxxxxx.dddddddddd.pdf 

• n= 16 numbers 0-9
• x= date in this format ex:02232008
• d= 10 numbers 0-9, this is the part of the file name that I want to delete.

I need the d's from the sample above to be deleted but keep the rest of the file name the same. I need to be able to run this batch file on a folder that contains about 3,000 pdf files. It can either be put right back into the same folder or outputted into a different folder.

Answer 1

In VBScript, you can use something like

' the file paths. hardcoded, but you could alternatively collect these via command line parameters
Const IN_PATH = "path\to\directory"
Const OUT_PATH = "path\to\another\directory"

' check that the directories exist. you could create them instead, but here
' it just throws an error as that's easier
dim fso: set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
if not fso.FolderExists(IN_PATH) then
    err.raise 1,, "Path '" & IN_PATH & "' not found"
end if
if not fso.FolderExists(OUT_PATH) then
    err.raise 1,, "Path '" & OUT_PATH & "' not found"
end if

dim infolder: set infolder = fso.GetFolder(IN_PATH)
dim file
for each file in infolder.files
    dim name: name = file.name
    dim parts: parts = split(name, ".")
    ' we're expecting a file format of a.b.c.pdf
    ' so we should have 4 elements in the array (zero-indexed, highest bound is 3)
    if UBound(parts) = 3 then
        ' rebuild the name with the 0th, 1st and 3rd elements
        dim newname: newname = parts(0) & "." & parts(1) & "." & parts(3)
        ' use the move() method to effect the rename
        file.move fso.buildpath(OUT_PATH, newname)
    else
        ' log the fact that there's an erroneous file name
        WScript.Echo "Unexpected file format: '" & name & "'"
    end if
next 'file

You would run it in a batch file thus, redirecting output to a log file

cscript rename-script.vbs > logfile.txt

This assumes that you can simply rely on the period to delimit the parts of the file name rather than the specifics of the format of the delimited parts.

---

To rearrange the date, which I think is in the parts(1) array element, you can simply extract each bit of the string because it's in a specific format:

'date in format mmddyyyy
dim month_, day_, year_, date_
month_ = left(parts(1), 2)
day_ = mid(parts(1), 3, 2)
year_ = right(parts(1), 4)
date_ = year_ & month_ & day_ ' now yyyymmdd

so when rebuilding the filename, you can replace parts(1) with the new formatted date

dim newname: newname = parts(0) & "." & date_ & "." & parts(3)

Answer 2

FOR /F "USEBACKQ delims=. tokens=1-4" %%F IN (`DIR /B /A-D "C:\Path\To\PDFs\"`) DO (
  REN "%%~fF.%%G.%%H.%%I" "%%F.%%G.%%I"
)

If you have files that vary in how many periods there are, just need to add a simple argument to count how many period delimiters exist then execute.

Answer 3

Using StringSolver, a semi-automatic renaming tool, just rename the first file, check that the generalized renaming is ok, and then accept it on all other files.

> move 1234567890123456.02232008.1946738250.pdf 1234567890123456.02232008.pdf

Get the explanation:

> move --explain

the file name until the end of the second number + the extension

If you are satisfied, you can run the semi-automated tool using move --auto or the succint version:

> move

DISCLAIMER: I am a co-author of this free software made for academic purposes.