Emacs: Rename Files Interactively by Pattern (regex; wdired)

This pages shows you how to rename multiple files in emacs. You can rename multiple files by find/replace, or by regex, in batch style or case-by-case.

Summary

When in dired, call wdired-change-to-wdired-mode. Then, just edit the file names. When done, type【Ctrl+c Ctrl+c】 to commit the changes. 【Ctrl+c Esc】 to cancel the rename.

While in wdired mode, you can edit the file names by find/replace: call query-replace or call query-replace-regexp, or any of emacs find/replace commands. 〔☛ emacs's Find/Replace commands〕

The rest of this page gives you some detail and alternative methods.

Rename by Editing File Names

This feature is also listed under the menu 〖Immediate ▸ Edit File Names〗. This menu is available only when you are in dired.

Rename by Regex

While in wdired, you can edit the list of file names by emacs's find/replace commands. For example, call query-replace 【Alt+%】 or call query-replace-regexp 【Ctrl+Alt+%】. 〔☛ Emacs: Find/Replace Tutorial〕

Warning: Emacs 22 Bug: Renaming to Existing File Name

There is a bug in emacs 22. (bug#394) If you rename 2 files by exchanging their names, one of the file will get deleted. For example, first file is named A and second is named B, and you rename them so that first is B and second is A. When you do commit, emacs will promp you that A already exsit and if you want to overwrite it. If you answer yes, then file A's content will be gone, and there will NOT be a file named A to be renamed B. In short, you lose a file. This is fixed in emacs 23, but i would be still careful if you rename many files that have existing names.

When renaming files to existing names, best to rename them to something else (such as adding a “x” in front), commit, and rename again.

dired-do-rename-regexp

A older method to rename files in batch is by the command dired-do-rename-regexp 【% R】.

Note: emacs's regex is not based on Perl's regex engine. For a summary and common patterns, see: Emacs Regex.