How can I batch rename files using the Terminal?

Question

I have a set of files, all of them nnn.MP4.mov. How could I rename them so that it is just nnn.mov?

Answer 1

ls -1 *.MP4.mov | while read f; do mv -i "$f" "$(basename \"$f\" .MP4.mov)"; done

Edit: completly rewritten.

Answer 2

OS X has a Rename Files… contextual menu item which is invoked when you select two or more files in Finder. Provides the same function as the Automator answer up above. Though Automator provides you with the tools to go further if you wish.

(I know OP asked for Terminal but 33 others like Automator response)

Answer 3

To test print the operation:

for file in *.MP4.mov; do j=`echo $file | cut -d . -f 1`;j=$j".mov";echo mv \"$file\" \"$j\"; done

To make it work:

for file in *.MP4.mov; do j=`echo $file | cut -d . -f 1`;j=$j".mov";mv "$file" "$j"; done

Answer 4

for n in *.MP4.mov
do
   mv $n $(echo $n | sed -e 's/.MP4//')
done

This will work even on really old shells that don't have parameter substitution, and it's a tad more readable to my eyes at least.

Answer 5

for i in *; 
do j=`echo $i | cut -d . -f 1`; 
j=$j".mov";
mv $i $j; 
done

this will cut everything before the first dot and appends .mov

but if some files are e.g. hi.2.mov and hi.1.mov one will be overwritten, so use it carefully ^^

Answer 6

First, do a dry run (will not actually rename any files) with the following:

for file in *.mov
do
  echo mv "$file" "${file/MP4./}"
done

If it all looks fine, remove the echo from the third line to actually rename the files.