Originally posted by: SystemAdmin

Is there an aix equivalent to the non-posix (but common) rename(1) command?
Where?

<desired>
rename(1) substitute filenames that match regular expressions

Summary:
rename 'match-regular-expression' 'replace-string' file http://...
</desired>

<example>
ksh> ls
abc.cpp vm.h foo.c bar.cpp x.C

ksh> rename '.cpp' '.C' *.cpp

ksh> ls
abc.C vm.h foo.c bar.C x.C
</example>

<example>
ksh> ls received
pic1.png pic2.png pic3.png

ksh> for f in received/*.png; do convert "$f" "$f".gif; done
ksh> ls received
pic1.png pic.png.gif pic2.png pic2.png.gif pic3.png pic3.png.gif

ksh> rename png.gif gif received/*.png.gif
ksh> ls received
pic1.png pic.gif pic2.png pic2.gif pic3.png pic3.gif

ksh> rm received/*.png

ksh> ls received
pic.gif pic2.gif pic3.gif
</example>

We are currently using a 20-line perl script which has hacked from a
2-line perl snippet.
Before spending time to identify the correct gnu package
and porting rename(1),
I am asking if there is already an aix equivalent extension (e.g. mv option)

TIA,
#AIX-Forum

Originally posted by: SystemAdmin

I do not know of such a command. I would suggest grabbing the GNU package and compiling it and then installing it on your machine.

You'll want to check out the Linux Toolbox for AIX: http://www-03.ibm.com/servers/aix/products/aixos/linux/download.html
which has a version of GCC and make that can be installed on your machine. That should make the task of compiling the rename package easier as you should not have to 'port' it, just download, configure, compile, and install the package.
#AIX-Forum

Originally posted by: SystemAdmin

On the other hand,
something like this simple Korn shell script might do the job. Note, this comes wil no guarantees or warrantees.

Here's a sample run:
$ ls
file.txt
$ myrename .txt .TXT *
$ ls
file.TXT
$

Note, the mv command will need to be uncommented after you verify this will work.

#!/bin/ksh

1. $1 is the expression to search for
2. $2 is the replacement string

1. for all files matching third argument, provided by the shell

for file in $3
do
# check if each filename matches the req expression
exists=`echo $file | grep -c $1`
if $exists != 0 # If file matches
then
# Use sed to replace matched reqular expression in
# the filename
newfile=`echo $file | sed -e "s|$1|$2|"`
echo "old name >$file< new name >$newfile<"
#mv $file $newfile
fi
done
#AIX-Forum

Originally posted by: SystemAdmin

Thank you for the sh implementation.

We started with the following perl snippet for string match and replace.

perl -e '($m,$r,@f)=@ARGV;$foreach $f(@f){$t=$f;$t=~s:$m:$r:;rename "$f","$t";}'

As our files have spaces, punctuation, and unprintable characters,
we now have a ~20-line perl script that handles our current set,
but we are seeking a low-maintenance alternative to our "growing" :) script.

Within the next few days, as time permits, I hope to identify and download
the correct rpm (not coreutils) from the toolbox.

Thank you,
#AIX-Forum

Originally posted by: SystemAdmin

It's dead easy in Perl

#!/usr/bin/perl
$op = shift or die;
chomp(@ARGV = <STDIN>) unless @ARGV;
for (@ARGV) {
$was = $_;
eval $op;
rename($was,$_) unless $was eq $_;
}

This is from one of the O'Reilly books on Perl.
http://people.scs.fsu.edu/~burkardt/pl_src/rename/rename.html

HTH

Jim Lane
#AIX-Forum

Originally posted by: SystemAdmin

Jim Lane,

> It's dead easy in Perl
> ...
> This is from one of the O'Reilly books on Perl.
> http://people.scs.fsu.edu/~burkardt/pl_src/rename/rename.html

This is what we needed.

We've named it mvViaPerlsub to avoid usage confusion with rename(1),
and I plan to add perldoc for our users.

Thank you,

#AIX-Forum