Provided by: util-linux_2.31.1-0.4ubuntu3.7_amd64 

NAME
rename - rename files
SYNOPSIS
rename [options] expression replacement file...
DESCRIPTION
rename will rename the specified files by replacing the first occurrence of expression in their name by
replacement.
OPTIONS
-s, --symlink
Do not rename a symlink but its target.
-v, --verbose
Show which files where renamed, if any.
-n, --no-act
Do not make any changes.
-o, --no-overwrite
Do not overwrite existing files.
-V, --version
Display version information and exit.
-h, --help
Display help text and exit.
EXAMPLES
Given the files foo1, ..., foo9, foo10, ..., foo278, the commands
rename foo foo00 foo?
rename foo foo0 foo??
will turn them into foo001, ..., foo009, foo010, ..., foo278. And
rename .htm .html *.htm
will fix the extension of your html files. Provide an empty string for shortening:
rename '_with_long_name' '' file_with_long_name.*
will remove the substring in the filenames.
WARNING
The renaming has no safeguards except the --no-act option. If the user has permission to rewrite file
names, the command will perform the action without any questions. For example, the result can be quite
drastic when the command is run as root in the /lib directory. Always make a backup before running the
command, unless you truly know what you are doing.
EXIT STATUS
0 all requested rename operations were successful
1 all rename operations failed
2 some rename operations failed
4 nothing was renamed
64 unanticipated error occurred
SEE ALSO
mv(1)
AVAILABILITY
The rename command is part of the util-linux package and is available from
https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/.
util-linux June 2011 RENAME(1)