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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
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<title>DC - Multi-Rename Tool</title>
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<div class="dchelpage">
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<h1>2.6. Multi-Rename Tool</h1>
</div>
<div>
<h2>Content</h2>
<dl>
<dt>1. <a href="#presentation">Presentation</a></dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>1.1. <a href="#recommendation">Recommendation</a></dt>
<dt>1.2. <a href="#overview">Overview</a></dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>2. <a href="#interface">Interface</a></dt>
<dt>3. <a href="#generation">Generation of the new file names</a></dt>
<dt>4. <a href="#placeholders">Placeholders</a></dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>4.1. <a href="#basic">Basic placeholders</a></dt>
<dt>4.2. <a href="#other">Other placeholders</a></dt>
<dt>4.3. <a href="#plugin">Placeholders using plugin</a></dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>5. <a href="#listoffiles">List of files</a></dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>5.1. <a href="#existing">Existing list</a></dt>
<dt>5.2. <a href="#currentfilename">List created on the fly based on current file name</a></dt>
<dt>5.3. <a href="#newfilename">List created on the fly based on current new file name column</a></dt>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>6. <a href="#modifiers">Modifiers</a></dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>6.1. <a href="#case">Case</a></dt>
<dt>6.2. <a href="#searchreplace">Find and replace</a></dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>6.2.1. <a href="#singlesearchreplace">Search and replace single sequence</a></dt>
<dt>6.2.2. <a href="#multiplesearchandreplace">Multiple sequences replacement</a></dt>
<dt>6.2.3. <a href="#multiplepairs">Multiple pairs of search and replace</a></dt>
<dt>6.2.4. <a href="#searchreplaceregex">Using regular expressions</a></dt>
</dl>
</dd>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>7. <a href="#actualaction">Actual renaming action</a></dt>
<dt>8. <a href="#log">Log</a></dt>
<dt>9. <a href="#presets">Presets</a></dt>
<dt>10. <a href="#configuration">Additional configuration</a></dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>10.1. <a href="#menubar">Show menu bar on top</a></dt>
<dt>10.2. <a href="#invalidchar">Replace invalid filename character by</a></dt>
<dt>10.3. <a href="#presetatlaunch">Preset at launch</a></dt>
<dt>10.4. <a href="#exitmodified">Exit with modified preset</a></dt>
<dt>10.5. <a href="#renamelog">Rename log</a></dt>
</dl>
</dd>
</dl>
</div>
<div>
<h2><a name="presentation">1. Presentation</a></h2>
<p>The Multi-Rename Tool allows us to rename many selected files at once using different means.</p>
<p class="navback"><a href="#topofpage">(back to top)</a></p>
</div>
<div>
<h2><a name="recommendation">1.1. Recommendation</a></h2>
<p>If we're not familiar with the Multi-Rename Tool, prior to actually explore it, it would be wise to make some tests with copies of actual files into a temporary directory.</p>
<p>Then, when we get the idea, we may use the Multi-Rename Tool with actual files.</p>
<p class="navback"><a href="#topofpage">(back to top)</a></p>
</div>
<div>
<h2><a name="overview">1.2. Overview</a></h2>
<p>Let's suppose we've downloaded a bunch of podcast MP3 files.</p>
<p>We might want to rename them to get a significant name for each.</p>
<p>This is where the Multi-Rename Tool will be useful as it will help us to rename these multiple files in one action.</p>
<br>
<p>We will select the elements we want to rename from a panel.</p>
<p>Then we invoke the Multi-Rename Tool either from</p>
<ul>
<li>the main menu <b>Files</b> > <b>Multi-Rename Tool</b></li>
<li>with the internal command <a href="cmds.html#cm_MultiRename">cm_MultiRename</a></li>
</ul>
<p class="navback"><a href="#topofpage">(back to top)</a></p>
</div>
<div>
<h2><a name="interface">2. Interface</a></h2>
<p>This will get us to the Multi-Rename Tool dialog window like the following:</p>
<p class="figure"><img class="largeimage" title="Interface" alt="Interface" src="images/imgDC/mulrengeneral.png" width="724" height="456"></p>
<p>On top we see a table with the files we've selected from source panel, one file per row, and about to be renamed. We can reorder the list of files using drag & drop or <kbd>Shift+arrows</kbd>. To remove a file from the list, we can use the <kbd>Del</kbd> key (after deleting all files, Double Commander will close the Multi-Rename Tool).</p>
<p>The table has three columns:</p>
<table>
<tr class="rowcategorytitle"><th colspan="2">Multi-Rename Tool file name preview table</th></tr>
<tr class="rowsubtitle"><th class="namecolumn">Column name</th><th class="categorydesccolumn">Description</th></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">Old File Name</div></td><td class="hintcell">The current name of the file the row is representing</td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">New File Name</div></td><td class="hintcell">What would be the new file name if we confirm the rename</td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">File Path</div></td><td class="hintcell">Current location of file</td></tr>
</table>
<p>The idea is to do some manipulation until the <b>New File Name</b> column shows us the actual new file names we want.</p>
<p>Then we will press the <b>Rename</b> button to actually rename the files.</p>
<p class="navback"><a href="#topofpage">(back to top)</a></p>
</div>
<div>
<h2><a name="generation">3. Generation of the new file names</a></h2>
<p>We have tools at our disposition to generate the new file names we wish.</p>
<table>
<tr class="rowcategorytitle"><th colspan="2">Possible tools</th></tr>
<tr class="rowsubtitle"><th class="namecolumn">Category</th><th class="categorydesccolumn">Description</th></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">Placeholders</div></td><td class="hintcell">Use current part of the filename, its properties, or its content to generate part of the new names</td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">File lists</div></td><td class="hintcell">A text file with names, one per line, to apply sequentially to each and every file in same order</td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">Modifiers</div></td><td class="hintcell">Modify resulting characters of the eventual new names resulting from the above elements</td></tr>
</table>
<p class="navback"><a href="#topofpage">(back to top)</a></p>
</div>
<div>
<h2><a name="placeholders">4. Placeholders</a></h2>
<p>Let's see the placeholders we may use.</p>
<p>Note: Placeholders are case sensitive!</p>
<p class="navback"><a href="#topofpage">(back to top)</a></p>
</div>
<div>
<h2><a name="basic">4.1. Basic placeholders</a></h2>
<p>We define them in the box we have on left labeled <b>Mask</b>.</p>
<p>As we see, we define what will be used to form the <b>File name</b> and the <b>Extension</b> for our new wanted name.</p>
<p>These placeholders are defined between square brackets.</p>
<p>Generally, each of these placeholders will return us a string that will be part of either the file name or its extension we want to create.</p>
<p>We may define more than one in row and new part of filename will be the result of the concatenation of all these.</p>
<br>
<p>The basic placeholders are the following:</p>
<ul>
<li><b>[N]</b> which stands for the current file name</li>
<li><b>[E]</b> which stands for the current file extension</li>
</ul>
<p>For these two we may include some placeholders to delimit a range of characters from the file name and/or extension that will be used.</p>
<p>Let's see a table showing the result based on this sample file:</p>
<p class="figure"><img class="largeimage" title="Sample file" alt="Sample file" src="images/imgDC/mulrensamplefile.png" width="632" height="62"></p>
<table>
<tr class="rowcategorytitle"><th colspan="3">Possible placeholders</th></tr>
<tr class="rowsubtitle"><th class="smallname">Placeholders</th><th class="categorydesccolumn">Description</th><th class="categorynamecolumn">Example</th></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[Nx]</div></td><td class="hintcell">character is position x of the file name</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[N9]</code> = T</td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[N-x]</div></td><td class="hintcell">same thing but count first from the end of the file name</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[N-5]</code> = P</td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[Nx:y]</div></td><td class="hintcell">range of characters from position x to y in the file name</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[N5:6]</code> = 01</td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[N-x:-y]</div></td><td class="hintcell">same thing but counting from the end of the file name</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[N-6:-7]</code> = 06</td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[Nx:-y]</div></td><td class="hintcell">same thing but count first from the start and the last from the end</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[N10:-6]</code> = 060306</td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[N-x:y]</div></td><td class="hintcell">same thing but count first from the end and the last from the start</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[N-16:6]</code> = 01</td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[Nx,y]</div></td><td class="hintcell">character range will start at x and be y characters in length</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[N10,6]</code> = 060306</td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[N-x,y]</div></td><td class="hintcell">same thing but count first from the end and picking y characters going left</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[N-8,4]</code> = 0603</td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[Ex]</div></td><td class="hintcell">character is position x of the extension</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[E1]</code> = m</td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[E-x]</div></td><td class="hintcell">same thing but count first from the end of the extension</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[E-1]</code> = 3</td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[Ex:y]</div></td><td class="hintcell">range of characters from position x to y in the extension</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[E2:3]</code> = p3</td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[E-x:-y]</div></td><td class="hintcell">same thing but counting from the end of the extension</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[E-3:-2]</code> = mp</td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[Ex:-y]</div></td><td class="hintcell">same thing but count first from the start and the last from the end</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[E1:-2]</code> = mp</td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[E-x:y]</div></td><td class="hintcell">same thing but count first from the end and the last from the start</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[E-2:3]</code> = p3</td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[Ex,y]</div></td><td class="hintcell">character range will start at x and be y character in length</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[E1,3]</code> = mp3</td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[E-x,y]</div></td><td class="hintcell">same thing but count first from the end and picking y characters going left</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[E-1,2]</code> = p3</td></tr>
</table>
<br>
<p>Just to make sure we got the idea, here is an example where we've set the mask for the filename to <code>[N1,4]-[N5,2]-[N7,2]</code></p>
<p>We see that the <b>New File Name</b> column has been updated following the aboved described substitutions.</p>
<p class="figure"><img class="largeimage" title="Sample rename" alt="Sample rename" src="images/imgDC/mulrensample1.png" width="382" height="284"></p>
<p class="navback"><a href="#topofpage">(back to top)</a></p>
</div>
<div>
<h2><a name="other">4.2. Other placeholders</a></h2>
<p>Here are some other place holders, still with the same sample file:</p>
<p class="figure"><img class="largeimage" title="Sample file" alt="Sample file" src="images/imgDC/mulrensamplefile.png" width="632" height="62"></p>
<table>
<tr class="rowcategorytitle"><th colspan="3">Other placeholders</th></tr>
<tr class="rowsubtitle"><th class="smallname">Placeholders</th><th class="categorydesccolumn">Description</th><th class="categorynamecolumn">Example</th></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[A]</div></td><td class="hintcell">stands for the complete file name which include the whole path, directory separators, extension, colon and period included</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[A]</code> =<br><i>Complete filename</i></td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[A...]</div></td><td class="hintcell">range may be specified like previously [Ax], [Ax:y], [A-x:-y], etc...</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[A-9:-5]</code> = P0000</td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[Y]</div></td><td class="hintcell">the year of the file date expressed by its last 2 digits</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[Y]</code> = 19</td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[YYYY]</div></td><td class="hintcell">the year expressed on 4 digits</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[YYYY]</code> = 2019</td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[M]</div></td><td class="hintcell">the month number of the file date, straight</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[M]</code> = 1</td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[MM]</div></td><td class="hintcell">the month number padded with a zero to fit on 2 digits if necessary</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[MM]</code> = 01</td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[MMM]</div></td><td class="hintcell">abbreviation of the month like "jan", "feb", "mar", etc.</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[MMM]</code> = Jan</td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[MMMM]</div></td><td class="hintcell">complete month name like "january", "february", etc.</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[MMMM]</code> = January</td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[D]</div></td><td class="hintcell">the day number of the file date, straight</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[D]</code> = 2</td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[DD]</div></td><td class="hintcell">the day number padded with a zero to fit on 2 digits if necessary</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[DD]</code> = 02</td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[DDD]</div></td><td class="hintcell">abbreviation of the day like "mon", "tue", "wed", etc.</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[DDD]</code> = Wed</td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[DDDD]</div></td><td class="hintcell">complete day name like "monday", "tuesday", etc.</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[DDDD]</code> = Wednesday</td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[h]</div></td><td class="hintcell">the hour number of the file time, straight</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[h]</code> = 9</td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[hh]</div></td><td class="hintcell">the hour number padded with a zero to fit on 2 digits if necessary</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[hh]</code> = 09</td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[n]</div></td><td class="hintcell">the minute number of the file time, straight</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[n]</code> = 2</td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[nn]</div></td><td class="hintcell">the minute number padded with a zero to fit on 2 digits if necessary</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[nn]</code> = 02</td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[s]</div></td><td class="hintcell">the second number of the file time, straight</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[s]</code> = 7</td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[ss]</div></td><td class="hintcell">the second number padded with a zero to fit on 2 digits if necessary</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[ss]</code> = 07</td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[G]</div></td><td class="hintcell">a GUID form on the fly of the form:<br>{XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX}</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[G]</code> =<br><i>A 16-bytes GUID</i></td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[Px]</div></td><td class="hintcell">directly name a x-level of complete path counting first near the root</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[P2]</code> = TechPodcast</td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[P-x]</div></td><td class="hintcell">directly name a x-level of complete path counting first near the file name</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[P-2]</code> = Download</td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[C]</div></td><td class="hintcell">an autoincrementing counter for each iteration of using parameters of box "Counter" (negative numbers are also supported)</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[C]</code> =<i>Number<br>incrementing for<br>each file</i></td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[V:hint]</div></td><td class="hintcell">a user define variable "hint" that will be prompt to user at actual rename process</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[V:Guest]</code> = <i>Prompt<br>Guest's value</i></td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[[]</div></td><td class="hintcell">insert opening square bracket as is</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[[]</code> = [</td></tr>
<tr><td class="varcell"><div class="firstcolumnaleft">[]]</div></td><td class="hintcell">insert closing square bracket as is</td><td class="hintcell"><code>[]]</code> = ]</td></tr>
</table>
<p>Here is another example where we've used some of the above placeholders setting the mask to</p>
<p><code>[C] - [YYYY]-[MM]-[DD] @ [hh]-[nn]-[ss]</code></p>
<p class="figure"><img class="largeimage" title="Sample rename" alt="Sample rename" src="images/imgDC/mulrensample2.png" width="722" height="452"></p>
<p>With time, if used often, we'll type from memory what we need!</p>
<p>Waiting for that, luckily, we may press the button below each mask and then access a popup menu that will help us to have the application type it for us based on what we need.</p>
<p class="figure"><img class="largeimage" title="Helper usage" alt="Helper usage" src="images/imgDC/mulrenhelpers.png" width="875" height="424"></p>
<p class="navback"><a href="#topofpage">(back to top)</a></p>
</div>
<div>
<h2><a name="plugin">4.3. Placeholders using plugin</a></h2>
<p>We may also use a placeholder that will a content plugin.</p>
<p>It will extract from the file the selected field and use it as part of the new name we want.</p>
<p>Following example use a multimedia plugin to extract the length time of MP3 podcast file to place it in the filename between parentheses in the name:</p>
<p class="figure"><img class="largeimage" title="Using plugin" alt="Using plugin" src="images/imgDC/mulrenplugin.png" width="660" height="570"></p>
<p class="navback"><a href="#topofpage">(back to top)</a></p>
</div>
<div>
<h2><a name="listoffiles">5. List of files</a></h2>
<p>We may also use a text file containing a list of file names to rename our files.</p>
<p>It will be assumed that each line of that text file holds the new file name, extension included, to give to the matching file in the same position order.</p>
<br>
<p>This list may</p>
<ul>
<li>be an existing text file you've made earlier</li>
<li>be created on the fly based on current file name (<b>Old File Name</b> column)</li>
<li>be created on the fly based on current <b>New File Name</b> column</li>
</ul>
<p>It is also possible to load a list of file names from the clipboard, to use this feature you need to open the <a href="configuration.html#ConfigHotKeys">hotkey settings</a>, switch to the "Multi-Rename Tool" category and set hotkey for the <tt>cm_LoadNamesFromClipboard</tt> command.</p>
<p class="navback"><a href="#topofpage">(back to top)</a></p>
</div>
<div>
<h2><a name="existing">5.1. Existing list</a></h2>
<p>If we already have such file, we'll press the <b>Editor</b> button and <b>Load names from file</b>.</p>
<p class="figure"><img class="largeimage" title="Existing list" alt="Existing list" src="images/imgDC/mulrenlstfromfile.png" width="362" height="104"></p>
<p>Then we'll be prompted to indicate our file list.</p>
<p>If the file holds the same number of lines as the number of elements to be renamed, we'll see in the <b>New File Name</b> column what would be the new file name for each file.</p>
<p>The actual renaming process will take place only when we'll press the <b>Rename</b> button.</p>
<p class="navback"><a href="#topofpage">(back to top)</a></p>
</div>
<div>
<h2><a name="currentfilename">5.2. List created on the fly based on current file name</a></h2>
<p>Similar to the above described <a href="#existing">Existing list</a>, Double Commander may offer us on the fly to create this file list.</p>
<p>Pressing the <b>Editor</b> button and then <b>Edit names...</b> will have the tool create a temporary text file based on the original file names that will be used like the previous point.</p>
<p class="navback"><a href="#topofpage">(back to top)</a></p>
</div>
<div>
<h2><a name="newfilename">5.3. List created on the fly based on current new file name column</a></h2>
<p>Same as above except that file names in the list are coming from the current <b>New File Name</b> column.</p>
<p>This method may be particularly helpful in case the placeholders method gives us "almost" the file names we want so we just have to make some touch-ups to correct the ones that needs to fill our need.</p>
<p>Following example shows us the flow of event when using this method.</p>
<p class="figure"><img class="largeimage" title="Edit new name column" alt="Edit new name column" src="images/imgDC/mulreneditnewnames.png" width="828" height="882"></p>
<p class="navback"><a href="#topofpage">(back to top)</a></p>
</div>
<div>
<h2><a name="modifiers">6. Modifiers</a></h2>
<p>Still respecting and applied <b>after</b> the above mentioned placeholders and file list, we may apply modifiers to alter what would be the new file names.</p>
<p>These modifiers include:</p>
<ul>
<li>Changing the case of characters</li>
<li>Search and replace sequence of characters by another</li>
</ul>
<p class="navback"><a href="#topofpage">(back to top)</a></p>
</div>
<div>
<h2><a name="case">6.1. Case</a></h2>
<p>The possible options are the following and will affect the case of the characters of the new file names:</p>
<ul>
<li>No change</li>
<li>UPPERCASE</li>
<li>lowercase</li>
<li>First char in uppercase, rest in lowercase</li>
<li>First Char Of Every Word In Uppercase</li>
</ul>
<p>Even if this modifier is inside the <b>Mask</b> box, it will be applied also if the file names are coming from a list.</p>
<p class="navback"><a href="#topofpage">(back to top)</a></p>
</div>
<div>
<h2><a name="searchreplace">6.2. Find and replace</a></h2>
<p>The string in the <b>Find</b> field will be replaced with the string in the <b>Replace</b> field. Several additional features are also available, see below. The search is NOT case sensitive!</p>
<p>Additional options:</p>
<ul>
<li><p><span class="italic">A≠a</span> – enables case-sensitive search.</p></li>
<li><p><span class="italic">1x</span> – if enabled, then regardless of the number of matches, only the first will be replaced.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Both parameters also affect the behavior of regular expressions.</p>
<p class="navback"><a href="#topofpage">(back to top)</a></p>
</div>
<div>
<h2><a name="singlesearchreplace">6.2.1. Search and replace single sequence</a></h2>
<p>We may search for a single sequence of characters in the string and replace them by another one.</p>
<p class="figure"><img class="largeimage" title="Simple search and replace" alt="Simple search and replace" src="images/imgDC/mulrensrchrpl.png" width="401" height="205"></p>
<p class="navback"><a href="#topofpage">(back to top)</a></p>
</div>
<div>
<h2><a name="multiplesearchandreplace">6.2.2. Multiple sequences replacement</a></h2>
<p>But we may also replace different sequences by a single one, by placing the sequences between pipes like this example where 2020 will replace any occurrence of 2017, 2018 or 2019:</p>
<p class="figure"><img class="largeimage" title="Multiple replace" alt="Multiple replace" src="images/imgDC/mulrenrepl3for1.png" width="476" height="230"></p>
<p class="navback"><a href="#topofpage">(back to top)</a></p>
</div>
<div>
<h2><a name="multiplepairs">6.2.3. Multiple pairs of search and replace</a></h2>
<p>We may also define more than one pair of sequences by placing them between pipes.</p>
<p>Each sequence to search will have its replacement defined in the same position.</p>
<p class="figure"><img class="largeimage" title="Multiple search and replace pairs" alt="Multiple search and replace pairs" src="images/imgDC/mulrenreplplace.png" width="497" height="263"></p>
<p class="navback"><a href="#topofpage">(back to top)</a></p>
</div>
<div>
<h2><a name="searchreplaceregex">6.2.4. Using regular expressions</a></h2>
<p>We also have the possibility to use <a href="regexp.html">regular expressions</a> for the search part of string as well as for its substitution (<b>Use substitution</b> enables the use of <a href="regexp.html#meta-sub">subexpressions</a> in the <b>Replace</b> field).</p>
<p class="figure"><img class="largeimage" title="Using regular expressions" alt="Using regular expressions" src="images/imgDC/mulrenregex.png" width="328" height="304"></p>
<p class="navback"><a href="#topofpage">(back to top)</a></p>
</div>
<div>
<h2><a name="actualaction">7. Actual renaming action</a></h2>
<p>When we have defined all the <b>New File Names</b> we want with the above mentioned methods, we're ready to launch the actual <b>Rename</b> action.</p>
<p class="figure"><img class="largeimage" title="Actual renaming action" alt="Actual renaming action" src="images/imgDC/mulrenrename.png" width="191" height="35"></p>
<p>If duplicate names are discovered, Double Commander will offer to abort the operation or use auto-renaming with adding a number: "name (1).ext", "name (2).ext", etc. Keep in mind, in the second case, the automatic addition of a number will not be shown in the "New File Name" column.</p>
<p>After the rename process, the application will rescan the files and refill again the above table.</p>
<p>The <b>Old File Name</b> column will normally show the result of our renaming process.</p>
<p>The <b>New File Name</b> one will be refreshed as well by re-applying the same placeholders/lists/modifiers still defined.</p>
<p>Normally, we should then pay attention more on the first column one since it represents the new actual file names that we've just renamed.</p>
<p class="navback"><a href="#topofpage">(back to top)</a></p>
</div>
<div>
<h2><a name="log">8. Log</a></h2>
<p>Application can create a log file, or append to an exiting one, with the result of all the renaming attempts that took place when launching the actual rename.</p>
<p>It might be useful later if we search the original file name or something we would inadvertently renamed.</p>
<p class="navback"><a href="#topofpage">(back to top)</a></p>
</div>
<div>
<h2><a name="presets">9. Presets</a></h2>
<p>We may need to re-use the same placeholders/modifiers for the same type of multi-renaming as we did on a previous session.</p>
<p>Instead of having to keep retyping the same configuration we would already done over and over, we may save a current configuration in preset and then re-use it later.</p>
<p>To do that, we click the button giving access to actions associated with the presets and select <b>Save as...</b>.</p>
<p>We give a significant name and we now have added a kind of configuration in our preset.</p>
<p>Next time we need it again for a batch rename, we will click the preset drop box, select our preset and then fields will be filled with what we've saved.</p>
<br>
<p>The menu mentioned offers us various actions related with the presets regarding actions like loading them, saving them, renaming them, deleting them, sorting them, etc.</p>
<p class="figure"><img class="largeimage" title="Presets" alt="Presets" src="images/imgDC/mulrenpreset.png" width="598" height="383"></p>
<p class="navback"><a href="#topofpage">(back to top)</a></p>
</div>
<div>
<h2><a name="configuration">10. Additional configuration</a></h2>
<p>In the configuration pages, additional settings related with the Multi-Rename Tool are present in a dedicated page.</p>
<p class="figure"><img class="largeimage" title="Additional configuration" alt="Additional configuration" src="images/imgDC/mulrenconfiguration.png" width="124" height="30"></p>
<p class="navback"><a href="#topofpage">(back to top)</a></p>
</div>
<div>
<h2><a name="menubar">10.1. Show menu bar on top</a></h2>
<p>If we prefer to have a menu bar on top of the window giving us access to all pertinent function and view them in a menu, we check this option.</p>
<p class="navback"><a href="#topofpage">(back to top)</a></p>
</div>
<div>
<h2><a name="invalidchar">10.2. Replace invalid filename character by</a></h2>
<p>It might happen that with our adjustments, an invalid character for a filename would appear in the resulting name of a file.</p>
<p>To avoid generating an error, Double Commander will replace that invalid character by what we will enter in this box.</p>
<p>If we wish to simply strip the invalid characters, we let this box empty.</p>
<p class="figure"><img class="largeimage" title="Replace invalid filename character by" alt="Replace invalid filename character by" src="images/imgDC/mulrenreplacechar.png" width="319" height="31"></p>
<p class="navback"><a href="#topofpage">(back to top)</a></p>
</div>
<div>
<h2><a name="presetatlaunch">10.3. Preset at launch</a></h2>
<p>This setting determines what will be the default preset loaded each time we invoke the Multi-Rename Tool.</p>
<p class="figure"><img class="largeimage" title="Preset at launch" alt="Preset at launch" src="images/imgDC/mulrenpresetlaunch.png" width="512" height="106"></p>
<p class="navback"><a href="#topofpage">(back to top)</a></p>
</div>
<div>
<h2><a name="exitmodified">10.4. Exit with modified preset</a></h2>
<p>If we've loaded an existing preset, that we've changed at least one setting and then attempt to quit the Multi-Rename Tool window without haven't saved our modified preset, this option will determine the behavior of Double Commander.</p>
<p class="figure"><img class="largeimage" title="Exit with modified preset" alt="Exit with modified preset" src="images/imgDC/mulrenexitmodified.png" width="512" height="106"></p>
<p class="navback"><a href="#topofpage">(back to top)</a></p>
</div>
<div>
<h2><a name="renamelog">10.5. Rename log</a></h2>
<p>These settings help to determine how to handle the saving of renaming log file.</p>
<p>By legacy, each renaming log file was defined in each preset.</p>
<p>But with option here, we may instruct Double Commander to save these logs into the single location defined there where the result of each rename action will be appended into a rename log file.</p>
<p>We may define to store the log into individual directory per day.</p>
<p class="figure"><img class="largeimage" title="Rename log" alt="Rename log" src="images/imgDC/mulrenrenamelog.png" width="512" height="159"></p>
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</div>
</div>
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