8 replies to this topic

[manuleka]

found an old backup file of itune, which has alot of image files (over 300 jpeg) and a few videos (20+ mov) but they are all named without extensions... is there a way of adding extensions to these files at once in Windows XP?

cheers for any advice/suggestion

[yordan]

Where are the files today? Can you see them on a linux system? Then it's easy to write a "mv" loop.

[manuleka]

on my laptop... currently running windows but can boot into xubuntu (dual OS)

[yordan]

So, if you can access the folder with Linux, you can do something funny

cd /mydisk/myfolder
for i in `ls`
do
echo rename $i $i.jpg
done

redirect this to a Windows file named myrename.bat, read the file in order to check that everything is correct, and you can run the generated file when booted with Windows.
Of course, if you want to take the risk, you can also run it directly from Linux, than replace "echo rename" with "mv", that's all.
put a "set -x" in front of that and a "set +x" at the end, in order to have a display while working.
Maybe I should not have written all this, you probably knew this syntax since a long time?

[yordan]

found an old backup file of itune, which has alot of image files (over 300 jpeg) and a few videos (20+ mov) but they are all named without extensions... is there a way of adding extensions to these files at once in Windows XP?

cheers for any advice/suggestion

Try this from the Microsoft site, it's funny : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320167

he Rename function in Windows Explorer does not match the behavior of the REN command you may use at a command prompt. For example, if you had files that are named smitha.doc, smithb.doc, and smithc.doc, you could use the ren smith*.doc smythe*.doc command. All file names automatically show the new spelling, and are renamed smythea.doc, smytheb.doc, and smythec.doc.

I did a simple test with three files named "one", "two", "three", so exactly as your case, files without extension.
A single "rename" instruction I ran once only renamed each file, adding the doc extension.

dir  ..
08/12/2011  09:47				 0 one
08/12/2011  09:48				 0 three
08/12/2011  09:48				 0 two

F:\rename_tests>rename *. e*.doc

F:\rename_tests>dir

08/12/2011  09:54	<REP>		  .
08/12/2011  09:54	<REP>		  ..
08/12/2011  09:48				 0 ehree.doc
08/12/2011  09:47				 0 ene.doc
08/12/2011  09:48				 0 ewo.doc

Doesn't this look like what you wanted to do?

[manuleka]

thanks yordan, will look into it

[yordan]

So, were you successful?

[manuleka]

i ended up using this tool:
http://www.brotherso...load-41537.html

extension renamer

[starscream]

I don't remember if this utility works or has linux based port but on windows it works fine. I have used it to change the extension of some of my files. I think that should work. I usually prefer linux command line as it gets work done quickly compared to GUI based tools and maybe it could be just me getting comfortable with the CLI.

I checked your software from the brothersoft site. I think that will also do job in case of mass batch renames and extension changing. There used to be one small utlity written in autohotkey which used to set things up for the file names, I guess it is no longer hosted so no idea about that file.

Anyway, your problem seems to be solved so there is no point in finding it otherwise I could have searched it and posted the link here. I'll find and keep it in delicious thought, just in case.