Rearranging the name of files

Many years ago I used a batch file to rearrange the name of files.

Over the years I saved a bunch of files in the format mm-dd-yyyy.

So they would sort chronological, I would like to change them to the
yyyy-mm-dd Format.

Does any one remember the batch file commands to do that?





--
2017: The year we learn to play the great game of Euchre

On Fri, 22 Sep 2017 20:15:27 -0400, Keith Nuttle
wrote:

Many years ago I used a batch file to rearrange the name of files.

Over the years I saved a bunch of files in the format mm-dd-yyyy.

So they would sort chronological, I would like to change them to the
yyyy-mm-dd Format.

If you only want to change the date format for the files then you can
do this in Settings and enter date and time in the search box.
Select Change date and time formats and then select yyyy-MM-dd.

This will only change the date format for all files and folders but
not a date format that is embedded in the file name.


Does any one remember the batch file commands to do that?

No! Sorry.

On 9/22/2017 9:36 PM, Monty wrote:
If you only want to change the date format for the files then you can
do this in Settings and enter date and time in the search box.
Select Change date and time formats and then select yyyy-MM-dd.

This will only change the date format for all files and folders but
not a date format that is embedded in the file name.
The files have the names like 03-27-2017.pdf I want to rename them to
2017-03-27.

So it has nothing to do with the OS Date format.



--
2017: The year we learn to play the great game of Euchre

On 2017-09-22 20:15, Keith Nuttle wrote:

Many years ago I used a batch file to rearrange the name of files.
Over the years I saved a bunch of files in the format mm-dd-yyyy.
So they would sort chronological,

Huh? How does mm-dd-yyyy sort chronologically? As soon as you have more
than a single year you're toast. You just realized that now?

I would like to change them to the yyyy-mm-dd Format.
Does any one remember the batch file commands to do that?

Well, I could spend time working on it, supposing all your files have
nothing but mm-dd-yyyy in their names it is pretty easy, but I'm a slow
coder and I don't have the time. Use ReNamer instead:

http://www.den4b.com/products
Add a rule, Type=ReArrange, Delimiter=-, newOrder=$3-$2-$1

Took me 1 minute to "code" with this tool...

Regards,

--
! _\|/_ Sylvain /
! (o o) Memberavid-Suzuki-Fdn/EFF/Red+Cross/SPCA/Planetary-Society
oO-( )-Oo Always proofread carefully to see if you any words out.

B00ze wrote:

Keith Nuttle wrote:
Many years ago I used a batch file to rearrange the name of files.
Over the years I saved a bunch of files in the format mm-dd-yyyy. So
they would sort chronological,

Huh? How does mm-dd-yyyy sort chronologically? As soon as you have more
than a single year you're toast. You just realized that now?

I would like to change them to the yyyy-mm-dd Format.

You split the paragraph at the wrong point. The phrase beginning with "So"
goes with "I would like..." As:

"I would like to change them to the yyyy-mm-dd Format so they would sort
chronological."

--
-bts

Beauregard T. Shagnasty wrote:
B00ze wrote:

Keith Nuttle wrote:
Many years ago I used a batch file to rearrange the name of files.
Over the years I saved a bunch of files in the format mm-dd-yyyy. So
they would sort chronological,
Huh? How does mm-dd-yyyy sort chronologically? As soon as you have more
than a single year you're toast. You just realized that now?

I would like to change them to the yyyy-mm-dd Format.

You split the paragraph at the wrong point. The phrase beginning with "So"
goes with "I would like..." As:

"I would like to change them to the yyyy-mm-dd Format so they would sort
chronological."


But Renamer is likely to be a better tool for it, than scripting.

Especially if you're just juggling existing file name components.

If you pick the wrong scripting language, it could be a challenge.
Getting a file system object is probably pretty easy. Having
a string manipulation library you can use/understand, including
all escaping sequences, that's tougher.

If you were to choose VBS, you might well find lots of sample
scripts to use as templates, and then you can build what you
need with some amount of copy/paste. You're "doing it wrong",
if it seems you're inventing all the code from scratch yourself.
If you select an obscure language for the job, then indeed,
you could write it all yourself.

Paul

Keith Nuttle wrote:
On 9/22/2017 9:36 PM, Monty wrote:
If you only want to change the date format for the files then you can
do this in Settings and enter date and time in the search box.
Select Change date and time formats and then select yyyy-MM-dd.

This will only change the date format for all files and folders but
not a date format that is embedded in the file name.
The files have the names like 03-27-2017.pdf I want to rename them to
2017-03-27.

So it has nothing to do with the OS Date format.




Not the most robust, files MUST be named mm-dd-yyyy.EXT to work. A hell
of a lot easier to do in bash that ol' MS batch file


@echo off
:: format-name.bat
SETLOCAL EnableDelayedExpansion

SET target=%1
SET mask=*.*

:: Command line check must have at least one arg
IF '%target%' equ '' (
ECHO Error, missing required PATH argument
GOTO ERROR
)

:: Must not have quoted path
IF !target:~0^,1!!target:~-1! equ "" (
ECHO - String is quoted
ECHO Error, no quoted paths with embedded spaces, move to DIR and
use '.'
GOTO ERROR
)

:: Path must exist
IF NOT EXIST %target%\NUL (
ECHO Error cannot find target DIR '%target%'
GOTO ERROR
)

:: Set user specified mask
IF NOT [%2]==[] SET mask=%2

:: move to target DIR
PUSHD %target%

:: Build rename batch file
echo @echo off ~temp.bat
FOR /F "usebackq tokens=1-4 delims=-." %%a IN (`dir /b %mask%`) DO (
echo rename %%a-%%b-%%c.%%d %%c-%%a-%%b.%%d ~temp.bat
)

:: Rename files
CALL ~temp.bat

:: Clean up mess
DEL ~temp.bat
POPD
ECHO Files renamed!
GOTO CLEANUP

:ERROR
ECHO.
ECHO Convert files named mm-dd-yyyy.EXT to yyyy-mm-yy.EXT
ECHO SYNTAX: %0% PATH [MASK]
ECHO PATH must be valid without trailing '\'
ECHO Optional file MASK, e.g '*.pdf' else default '*.*'

:CLEANUP
SET target=
SET mask=

--
Take care,

Jonathan
-------------------
LITTLE WORKS STUDIO
http://www.LittleWorksStudio.com

"Paul" wrote

| For Each objFile in colFiles.....

' Just save this to a .vbs file and drop a folder onto it.
' All files with names containing two "-" will be converted.
' Recursion could be added fairly easily.

Dim FSO, oFol, sFol, Arg, objFile, colFiles
Dim sFil, s1, s2, A1, Pt1
Set FSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Arg = WScript.Arguments(0)
Set oFol = FSO.GetFolder(Arg)
Set colFiles = oFol.Files
For Each objFile in colFiles
sFil = objFile.Name
Pt1 = instrrev(sFil, ".")
s1 = Left(sFil, Pt1 - 1)
s2 = "." & right(sFil, len(sFil) - Pt1)
A1 = Split(s1, "-")
If ubound(A1) = 2 Then
objFile.Name = A1(2) & "-" & A1(0) & "-" & A1(1) & s2
End If
Next
Set colFiles = Nothing
Set oFol = Nothing
Set FSO = Nothing

Mayayana wrote:
"Paul" wrote

| For Each objFile in colFiles.....

' Just save this to a .vbs file and drop a folder onto it.
' All files with names containing two "-" will be converted.
' Recursion could be added fairly easily.

Dim FSO, oFol, sFol, Arg, objFile, colFiles
Dim sFil, s1, s2, A1, Pt1
Set FSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Arg = WScript.Arguments(0)
Set oFol = FSO.GetFolder(Arg)
Set colFiles = oFol.Files
For Each objFile in colFiles
sFil = objFile.Name
Pt1 = instrrev(sFil, ".")
s1 = Left(sFil, Pt1 - 1)
s2 = "." & right(sFil, len(sFil) - Pt1)
A1 = Split(s1, "-")
If ubound(A1) = 2 Then
objFile.Name = A1(2) & "-" & A1(0) & "-" & A1(1) & s2
End If
Next
Set colFiles = Nothing
Set oFol = Nothing
Set FSO = Nothing


Unlike you, I don't know much about VBS.

It took me somewhere around 12-15 web pages to look
up enough commands to write a script. I think Renamer
is about 100x faster than the process of writing a script :-)

Paul

On 2017-09-23 00:08, Beauregard T. Shagnasty
wrote:

B00ze wrote:

Keith Nuttle wrote:
Many years ago I used a batch file to rearrange the name of files.
Over the years I saved a bunch of files in the format mm-dd-yyyy. So
they would sort chronological,

Huh? How does mm-dd-yyyy sort chronologically? As soon as you have more
than a single year you're toast. You just realized that now?

I would like to change them to the yyyy-mm-dd Format.

You split the paragraph at the wrong point. The phrase beginning with "So"
goes with "I would like..." As:

"I would like to change them to the yyyy-mm-dd Format so they would sort
chronological."

Ohhhh, I did! I'm sorry! My bad!

--
! _\|/_ Sylvain /
! (o o) Memberavid-Suzuki-Fdn/EFF/Red+Cross/SPCA/Planetary-Society
oO-( )-Oo "Au contraire, mon capitaine! HEEE'S BAAAACK!!!" -Q

"Paul" wrote

| It took me somewhere around 12-15 web pages to look
| up enough commands to write a script. I think Renamer
| is about 100x faster than the process of writing a script :-)
|

Maybe, for people who don't write scripts.

I'm surprised that with your curiosity and expertise
you've never got involved with programming. There
are utility programs to do many of these things, but
scripts are far more flexible for custom operations. I
first got intrigued reading Windows 98 Annoyances.
The author had a short chapter on VBScript. I tried
out some message box scripts. It was a revelation.
I realized that programming/scripting would allow me
to work on the other side of the screen. I didn't
have to settle for clicking buttons. I could design
the functionality that happens when the button is
clicked. That's very satisfying. A computer goes from
being a toolbox to being a whole workshop.

Mayayana wrote:
"Paul" wrote

| It took me somewhere around 12-15 web pages to look
| up enough commands to write a script. I think Renamer
| is about 100x faster than the process of writing a script :-)
|

Maybe, for people who don't write scripts.

I'm surprised that with your curiosity and expertise
you've never got involved with programming. There
are utility programs to do many of these things, but
scripts are far more flexible for custom operations. I
first got intrigued reading Windows 98 Annoyances.
The author had a short chapter on VBScript. I tried
out some message box scripts. It was a revelation.
I realized that programming/scripting would allow me
to work on the other side of the screen. I didn't
have to settle for clicking buttons. I could design
the functionality that happens when the button is
clicked. That's very satisfying. A computer goes from
being a toolbox to being a whole workshop.

I'm a hardware guy, so by definition I "can't be writing software" :-)

Our firmware, software, and scripting exercises, had
to remain a secret. They weren't prominently displayed
on any month-end progress reports.

And not once, do I remember any hardware managers trying
to design a training track for the team, so we were all
using the same tools. That's what I mean by "secret",
in that management didn't want to expose how we
were getting things done. Today, for example, you might
want them all to be trained in PERL or something.
(It's not the best choice, but it is a pretty common
skill amongst hardware people.)

One project I worked on, I sat down with another engineer,
and we made a list of all the languages we knew. The
only thing the two of us had in common was... Fortran :-)
Well, puke. But Fortran it was, and we wrote thousands
of lines of Fortran, just so we could pass the test
vector generator back and forth and add stuff to it.
It would have been madness, to use Notepad to make
a 185000 line file, with a couple hundred characters
per line, which is why the Fortran generated that
file for us. The Fortran was succinct, we could add
comments to the Fortran source (as comments aren't
allowed in a Test Vector file).

That's what happens when you have "secret" skills. Chaos.
As far as the month end report was concerned, those
test vectors just "wrote themselves" somehow. Magic.

When you work scatter-shot like that, you never
get good at anything. You're writing bad C code one
day. You're working on Fortran another day. (I've also
written Pascal code.) Being barely familiar with a
whole bunch of stuff, isn't really all that useful.
If you do chip or FPGA design, you're working in
Verilog or VHDL (I've taken courses). But only if
those are your "daily diet" will you get good at them.
I used to have to review the Verilog code of one of my
team members, to debug his stuff and make it work,
because he was an "FPGA designer in training". So even
if I "wasn't an FPGA design", I was still an FPGA designer :-)
Just never getting good at it.

Paul

On 2017-09-23 23:12, Mayayana wrote:

"Paul" wrote

| It took me somewhere around 12-15 web pages to look
| up enough commands to write a script. I think Renamer
| is about 100x faster than the process of writing a script :-)
|

Maybe, for people who don't write scripts.

You should have a look at that ReNamer tool, you do "program" it, i.e.
you create a series of steps you need, in order to rename files. But
it's so much faster than having to code a VBScript. The OP's rename
operation was very simple, so we could all do it (I would've done it
with a FOR loop in batch rather than VB, because I wrote only about 3 VB
programs ever). But you can do some very complicated stuff with ReNamer.
Think of it as a prototyping tool; they are quite useful, only this time
you don't need to code it afterwards because you're all done...

Best Regards,

--
! _\|/_ Sylvain /
! (o o) Memberavid-Suzuki-Fdn/EFF/Red+Cross/SPCA/Planetary-Society
oO-( )-Oo Very funny Scotty! Now beam up my clothes!

"B00ze" wrote

| Maybe, for people who don't write scripts.
|
| You should have a look at that ReNamer tool, you do "program" it, i.e.
| you create a series of steps you need, in order to rename files. But
| it's so much faster than having to code a VBScript.

It took me a couple of minutes to write the script.
And it wouldn't be hard to add any degree of
customization, like only renaming files from 2006 in
folders with specific names. But I can see your
point. If someone is not experienced with programming
or scripting then doing such a job would require a
lot of research and testing.

Actually part of the reason I do so much scripting is
because it's so quick and simple. Some things need
to be done as compiled software. But many things can
be done more easily as scripts or HTAs.