trim first 5 characters off of file names

[DaveLembke]

Looking for a way to trim first 5 character places off of a bunch of file names named
01 - filename.mp3 so that the file is trimmed to a name of filename.mp3 without the 01(space)-(space) before the song title.

I saw a program for sale called better file rename for $20, but was wondering if anyone knew of a way to do it for free through batch using a read in file name and then trim and rename as filename without the first 5 characters leading into the file name? I dont see why batch wouldnt be able to do it, but this exceeds my batching abilities, so a solution would be a learning experience if you could also describe what does what in the batch.

I have about 3000 songs that I want to trim this off of, so I am not sure if there is a way to read in with wildcard *.mp3 for all files in that directory and have it chug through them until they are all renamed without first 5 characters that always start with 01(space)-(space), 02(space)-(space) ect where the leading 2 digits is the track number so maybe ??(space)-(space) can be used as a wildcard type match for the files to test against them, or if the test would be to look for a dash ( - ) at the 4th character place of each file name and if there is a dash at the 4th character place, then trim first 5 character places off of the filename with a read in of that files name, trim, and rename?

Thanks.

[T.C.]

Try this.  It's not fully tested so instead of renaming the files it will copy them to your %temp% folder from which they can be deleted at will.  When you have tested and proved the script, change the copy line to
ren "!filename!" "!newfilename!"

Code: [Select]

@echo off
cls
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion

:: Set default directory to the directory containing .mp3 files
pushd path\to\files\|| echo PUSHD failed - job terminated&exit /b

:: Loop thru' a bare directory listing of mp3 files, reading each filename
:: into the environment variable %filename%, creating a new environment
:: variable %newfilename% containing %filename% less the first 5 chars
:: then renaming..

for /f "tokens=*" %%1 in ('dir /b *.mp3') do (
    set filename=%%1
    set newfilename=!filename:~5!
    copy "!filename!" "%temp%\!newfilename!"
    )

popd


[ghostdog74]

Looking for a way to trim first 5 character places off of a bunch of file names named
01 - filename.mp3 so that the file is trimmed to a name of filename.mp3 without the 01(space)-(space) before the song title.

I saw a program for sale called better file rename for $20, but was wondering if anyone knew of a way to do it for free through batch using a read in file name and then trim and rename as filename without the first 5 characters leading into the file name? I dont see why batch wouldnt be able to do it, but this exceeds my batching abilities, so a solution would be a learning experience if you could also describe what does what in the batch.

I have about 3000 songs that I want to trim this off of, so I am not sure if there is a way to read in with wildcard *.mp3 for all files in that directory and have it chug through them until they are all renamed without first 5 characters that always start with 01(space)-(space), 02(space)-(space) ect where the leading 2 digits is the track number so maybe ??(space)-(space) can be used as a wildcard type match for the files to test against them, or if the test would be to look for a dash ( - ) at the 4th character place of each file name and if there is a dash at the 4th character place, then trim first 5 character places off of the filename with a read in of that files name, trim, and rename?

Thanks.

what you need is a string manipulation tool that is free and versatile to use. 
you can download sed for windows and then do this

Code: [Select]

C:\test>dir /b /a-d *mp3
01 - song1.mp3
02   -   song2.mp3

C:\test>dir /b /a-d *mp3|sed "s/^.[0-9]*[ \t]*-[ \t]*//"
song1.mp3
song2.mp3

Use a for loop to iterate and rename your files. Note it takes care of variable number of spaces between your numbers, not just 5.

[DaveLembke]

COOL!  ... I am going to use this right now to trim up the file names. Thanks!!!

[gpl]

For renaming versatility, I cannot recommend a program more than ExplorerXP -- it can trim, stuff, replace and renumber multiple files.

The version I have does not work on vista but is fine on XP (its not been updated on download.com since 2006, so I doubt there will be a new version)

Graham

[ghostdog74]

For renaming versatility, I cannot recommend a program more than ExplorerXP -- it can trim, stuff, replace and renumber multiple files.

there are alot of such kind of software for renaming files. One can create such a utility with just simple scripting.

[Fields]

Looking for a way to trim first 5 character places off of a bunch of file names.

This solution is nearly the same as TCs in reply 1.  TCs is better. Except We show the output.

Reference: 

http://www.dostips.com/DtTipsStringManipulation.php

C:test>Display  trim5.bat

@echo off
echo.  >  newmp3.txt
dir /b *.mp3  > mp3.txt
type mp3.txt
echo.

setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
for /f  delims= %%i in (mp3.txt)  do (
set mp=%%i
echo mp=!mp!
set mp=!mp:~5!
echo mp=!mp!
echo !mp! >>  newmp3.txt
copy %%i  !mp!
rem ren %%i  !mp!
rem  del  %%i
)
echo Display Trim5
type newmp3.txt
rem ( will need double quotes for source and destination for the copy command. )

Output:

C:test>trim5.bat
Kalimba.mp3
Maid with the Flaxen Hair.mp3
SleepAway.mp3

mp=Kalimba.mp3
mp=ba.mp3
        1 file(s) copied.
mp=Maid with the Flaxen Hair.mp3
mp=with the Flaxen Hair.mp3
        1 file(s) copied.
mp=SleepAway.mp3
mp=Away.mp3
        1 file(s) copied.
Display Trim5
ba.mp3
with the Flaxen Hair.mp3
Away.mp3
C:test>