renaming certain part of a file

hello,

I have a question about renaming certain part of a file

I have several files as following

LM.BARI..BHZ.D.2018.246.000000.txt
LM.BARI..BHZ.D.2018.247.000000.txt
LM.BARI..BHZ.D.2018.248.000000.txt
LM.TOGK..BHZ.D.2018.246.000000.txt
LM.TOGK..BHZ.D.2018.247.000000.txt
LM.TOGK..BHZ.D.2018.248.000000.txt

I have 350 files and I would like to rename all those files as

BARI_Z_246.txt
BARI_Z_247.txt
BARI_Z_248.txt
TOGK_Z_246.txt
TOGK_Z_247.txt
TOGK_Z_248.txt

could anyone help me ?

thanks

Answer 1

[KSSV]

files = dir('*.txt') ; 
for i = 1:length(files)
    V = str2double(regexp(files(i).name,'\d+','match')) ;
    s = ['BARI_Z_',num2str(V(2)),'.txt'] ; 
    movefile(files(i).name,s)
end

[Rama Afana]

Hello, thank you for this. I've tried to use this code and it error on the movefile(files(i).name,s)

do you have any solution ?

thanks a lot

[KSSV]

What error?

[Rama Afana]

Error using movefile

No matching files were found

what should I do ?

[KSSV]

Are you in the folder where text files are present?

[Rama Afana]

yes the .m file are in the same folder with text files. do I have to move it ?

Answer 2

[per isakson]

Try this

%%
xpr = '^[^.]+\.([^.]+)\.{2}\w+?(\w)\.\w+\.\d{4}\.(\d+)\.';
%%
old_name = 'LM.BARI..BHZ.D.2018.246.000000.txt';
cac = regexp( old_name, xpr, 'tokens' );
new_name = sprintf( '%s_%s_%s.txt', cac{1}{:} )
%% 
old_name = 'LM.TOGK..BHZ.D.2018.248.000000.txt';
cac = regexp( old_name, xpr, 'tokens' );
new_name = sprintf( '%s_%s_%s.txt', cac{1}{:} )

it outputs

>> Untitled4
new_name =
    'BARI_Z_246.txt'
new_name =
    'TOGK_Z_248.txt'
>> 

This appears to work, however will all 350 file-names honor the pattern, xpr, I have deduced from your example?

I use the substrings marked with yellow to build the new name.

In response to comment

Make a backup of your text files!

Here is a working example (put this code in a file named rename_my_files.m and replace 'h:\m\cssm' by the name of the folder, in which you keep your files.)

%% Sample files
cmd_create_file( fullfile('h:\m\cssm','LM.BARI..BHZ.D.2018.246.000000.txt')); 
cmd_create_file( fullfile('h:\m\cssm','LM.BARI..BHZ.D.2018.247.000000.txt'));
cmd_create_file( fullfile('h:\m\cssm','LM.BARI..BHZ.D.2018.248.000000.txt'));
cmd_create_file( fullfile('h:\m\cssm','LM.TOGK..BHZ.D.2018.246.000000.txt'));
cmd_create_file( fullfile('h:\m\cssm','LM.TOGK..BHZ.D.2018.247.000000.txt'));
cmd_create_file( fullfile('h:\m\cssm','LM.TOGK..BHZ.D.2018.248.000000.txt'));
%%
rename_my_files_( 'h:\m\cssm\LM*.txt' )
%% 
function    rename_my_files_( glob )
    glob = fullfile( glob );
    sad = reshape( dir( glob ), 1,[] );
    xpr = '^[^.]+\.([^.]+)\.{2}\w+?(\w)\.\w+\.\d{4}\.(\d+)\.';
    for s = sad 
        old_ffs = fullfile(s.folder,s.name);
        cac     = regexp( old_ffs, xpr, 'tokens' );
        new_ffs = fullfile( s.folder, sprintf( '%s_%s_%s.txt', cac{1}{:} ) );
        [ status, msg ] = movefile( old_ffs, new_ffs );
        if status
            fprintf( 1, 'Success: %s  to  %s\n', old_ffs, new_ffs )
        else
            fprintf( 2, 'Failure: %s,  %s\n', old_ffs, msg )
        end
    end
end

Test run

>> rename_my_files
Success: h:\m\cssm\LM.BARI..BHZ.D.2018.246.000000.txt  to  h:\m\cssm\BARI_Z_246.txt
Success: h:\m\cssm\LM.BARI..BHZ.D.2018.247.000000.txt  to  h:\m\cssm\BARI_Z_247.txt
Success: h:\m\cssm\LM.BARI..BHZ.D.2018.248.000000.txt  to  h:\m\cssm\BARI_Z_248.txt
Success: h:\m\cssm\LM.TOGK..BHZ.D.2018.246.000000.txt  to  h:\m\cssm\TOGK_Z_246.txt
Success: h:\m\cssm\LM.TOGK..BHZ.D.2018.247.000000.txt  to  h:\m\cssm\TOGK_Z_247.txt
Success: h:\m\cssm\LM.TOGK..BHZ.D.2018.248.000000.txt  to  h:\m\cssm\TOGK_Z_248.txt
>> 

[Rama Afana]

Hi, thanks for your assistance. i've tried the code it works but why the file name couldnt be replaced with the new one ?

yes all the files have the same pattern of name. how could I read all those files name and write it again to the files?

thanks

[per isakson]

"how could I read all those files name and write it again to the files?"

My intention was that you should have tried to combine my "new_name" with KSSV's script. There is a mistake in KSSV's "new_name" code.

[Rama Afana]

oke thanks a lot for your help