Author Topic: Nifty FREE Utility to do almost anything to a filename in Windows (Read 16511 times)

questorfla · « **on:** June 17, 2015, 05:32 PM »

I get so many pieces of great software from everyone here that I wanted to contribute a link to a program that I think has got to fill a very unique need for anyone using Windows. I am always trying to figure out how to script various functions that were never intended to be done with Windows and unless I load GAWK of GNU or some other better software for file manipulation there never seems to be a way to do these things in Windows.
After many hours of digging though all the places i have never heard of before I ran across this little GEM of a tool called 1-4aRename and thought i would post the link herein case it might be of use to others.
My need was to be able to truncate all filenames in a folder by 12 characters without chopping off the extension. This was due to a file creation setup in a backup utility where they did not provide for any other alternatives. The 12 characters (which i did not need and were causing a problem with further processing) i just needed to chop off the end of the name.
After testing at least a dozen versions of awk, sed, (and even rename which failed for some reason) I ran across this tool and was amazed to see that it not only worked as needed but would allow you to preview the changes before they were applied as well as undoing them afterward.

This may be something only someone like me would ever need but the utility is Free, has no strings attached (that I could find), included no junk-ware or other trash and just worked perfectly.
If you get it, be sure to try the advanced mode (click F2) as that is when things got really amazing.

I hope it is of use to someone else as well.

x16wda · « **Reply #1 on:** June 17, 2015, 06:43 PM »

Very cool! I have used Bulk Rename Utility for this sort of thing, but I am always glad to find another!

TaoPhoenix · « **Reply #2 on:** June 17, 2015, 07:22 PM »

Does it rename those "nearly impossible" files? There was that thread a few weeks ago with the one that resisted like seven of the usual tricks.

Giampy · « **Reply #3 on:** June 18, 2015, 09:46 AM »

With regard to utilities: I select some files in Windows Explorer, and I wonder how it's possible to pass their names to a Dos command...

MilesAhead · « **Reply #4 on:** June 18, 2015, 04:13 PM »

With regard to utilities: I select some files in Windows Explorer, and I wonder how it's possible to pass their names to a Dos command...

-Giampy (June 18, 2015, 09:46 AM)

From XP SP3 and later you would type the command, leave a space, then drag and drop onto the command window. The names would be pasted in. Something that might work better would be a .cmd batch file. You could drag and drop to a shortcut of the batch file or put a shortcut to the batch in SendTo folder. Select files, right click, Send To then lift click the batch shortcut.

The batch file could be simple like

[Select]

@echo off
:next
if "%1"="" goto end
copy "%1" d:\somefolder
shift
goto next
:end

or whatever

Giampy · « **Reply #5 on:** June 18, 2015, 06:51 PM »

Thank you MilesAhead for your tips.
The program you showed doesn't work for me, I adapted it for the command Attrib but I didn't succeed, however your tips about "drag & drop files" brought me to compose this line:

for %%A in (%*) do (attrib +a %%A)

"Drag & drop" files and the program works now. I hope to further develop it for my needs.

def · « **Reply #6 on:** June 19, 2015, 12:13 AM »

Does it rename those "nearly impossible" files? There was that thread a few weeks ago with the one that resisted like seven of the usual tricks.
-TaoPhoenix (June 17, 2015, 07:22 PM)

If you are referring to my thread about files/folders with illegal characters (inserted by Linux' NTFS-3G) then no, it doesn't rename such files. (I had not expected the tool would accomplish this, anyway, as handling illegal characters is not advertised on the utility's home page and it is certainly not a common feature with file renamers on Windows.)

MilesAhead · « **Reply #7 on:** June 19, 2015, 07:49 AM »

Thank you MilesAhead for your tips.
The program you showed doesn't work for me, I adapted it for the command Attrib but I didn't succeed, however your tips about "drag & drop files" brought me to compose this line:

for %%A in (%*) do (attrib +a %%A)

"Drag & drop" files and the program works now. I hope to further develop it for my needs.
-Giampy (June 18, 2015, 06:51 PM)

The "IF" statement should have had a double equals sign as in
IF "%1"==""
instead of
IF "%1"=""

Usually stuff like that, unless it is very straight ahead, is use ahk or autoit. Less twaddle to deal with that multi percent sign environment variables etc..

Although the advantage of using .cmd batch for sysadmin types is it is always there where ahk or even powershell may not be. I have to admit I hate the syntax though.

Giampy · « **Reply #8 on:** June 19, 2015, 08:09 AM »

Let me say that DOS is a damned fascinating world.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #9 on:** June 19, 2015, 08:21 AM »

Let me say that DOS is a damned fascinating world.
-Giampy (June 19, 2015, 08:09 AM)

Insane person that I was, I used to do stupid TSRs if you remember those.
Terminate and Stay Resident programs.

Here's a tested version of my cmd

It just uses dir command for proof of concept.

[Select]

@echo off
:next
if "%1"=="" goto end
dir "%1"
shift
goto next
:end
pause

Innuendo · « **Reply #10 on:** June 20, 2015, 10:32 AM »

Let me say that DOS is a damned fascinating world.
-Giampy (June 19, 2015, 08:09 AM)

..so say the people who didn't have to live through it!

questorfla · « **Reply #11 on:** June 20, 2015, 06:39 PM »

Sorry I made the link so small but the program is tiny http://www.1-4a.com/rename/download.htm.
name 14aren? Not much but if you click the advanced options it had so many different ways to slice/dice/and chop I thought it could be the next GINZU knife for software.

rjbull · « **Reply #12 on:** June 22, 2015, 05:11 PM »

I used to do stupid TSRs if you remember those.
-MilesAhead (June 19, 2015, 08:21 AM)

I remember RAM-cram as well

questorfla · « **Reply #13 on:** June 22, 2015, 10:52 PM »

Let me say that DOS is a damned fascinating world.
-Giampy (June 19, 2015, 08:09 AM)

..so say the people who didn't have to live through it!
-Innuendo (June 20, 2015, 10:32 AM)

I lived through it ...and hate to say it... but we are still in it.

Just like the newest Tesla Roadster there is always a tiny piece of Henry Ford's Model 'A' hidden somewhere inside. Legacy coding will probably always be lurkng in the corners of every super-program for many years to come

Giampy · « **Reply #14 on:** June 23, 2015, 01:27 AM »

I hope to further develop it for my needs.
-Giampy (June 18, 2015, 06:51 PM)

Done! At last I have a direct way to set/unset archive attributes to a group of files.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #15 on:** June 23, 2015, 05:58 AM »

Legacy coding will probably always be lurkng in the corners of every super-program for many years to come
-questorfla (June 22, 2015, 10:52 PM)

I can see future Archeologists with a big find. The IBM PC. After intensive study they figured out the basic functioning of the device. But scientists are still puzzled as to the purpose of the "InDos Flag."

myarmor · « **Reply #16 on:** June 26, 2015, 01:03 PM »

Another program allowing you to do just about anything to a filename is PFrank.
It allows you to chain together search&replace regexes, commands, etc which are all applied sequentially to each filename.
It isn't really userfriendly (soo many options++), but it is quite good.

Just make sure you install the correct version (separate versions for XP and earlier, and Vista/W7+).
The latter still uses virtualstore (iow, the program tries to save in its own folder), so it isn't perfect but.

Loonier · « **Reply #17 on:** September 15, 2015, 01:55 PM »

Tried http://www.1-4a.com just now, without success.

TomD101 · « **Reply #18 on:** September 15, 2015, 02:41 PM »

Hello all,
having tested only one or two of the myriad of file renamers on the web: I found Lupas Rename 2000 (last updated in 2005) around 2002 and have used it ever since. I haven't encountered a task it was not able to perform (well, apart from, maybe, impossible characters - did not test that).
http://rename.lupasfreeware.org/
Free, tiny, VERY capable and working with anything up to W8 - don't have W10 yet, but I am sure, it will work there, too.
Best
Thomas
Berlin, Germany

mrpeach · « **Reply #19 on:** September 15, 2015, 03:18 PM »

Very cool! I have used Bulk Rename Utility for this sort of thing, but I am always glad to find another!
-x16wda (June 17, 2015, 06:43 PM)

Here's another vote for Bulk Rename Utility! I use it almost every day. Just started to get into regular expression renaming, which blew my little mind.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #20 on:** September 15, 2015, 03:42 PM »

Very cool! I have used Bulk Rename Utility for this sort of thing, but I am always glad to find another!
-x16wda (June 17, 2015, 06:43 PM)

Here's another vote for Bulk Rename Utility! I use it almost every day. Just started to get into regular expression renaming, which blew my little mind.
-mrpeach (September 15, 2015, 03:18 PM)

Speaking of RegEx, I enjoy this quote from Jamie Zawinski

Some people, when confronted with a problem, think "I know, I'll use regular expressions." Now they have two problems.

Loonier · « **Reply #21 on:** September 15, 2015, 04:55 PM »

http://www.1-4a.com/ is alive again - must learn to be patient...

IainB · « **Reply #22 on:** September 16, 2015, 01:20 PM »

http://www.1-4a.com/ is alive again - must learn to be patient...
___________________________
-Loonier (September 15, 2015, 04:55 PM)

Thanks for the heads-up. Very droll.
What a curious website though!