Michael wrote: > On Tuesday 29 October 2024 15:18:40 GMT Dale wrote: >> Howdy, >> >> I downloaded some files. I have a few that have some weird names. Some >> have those picture type characters. Some start with a dash, "-". In >> some cases I can use wild cards to change them. Frank gave me some >> ideas on that off list, while discussing his nifty checksum tool. >> Anyway, I ran up on a few that start with a dash, "-", and I can't find >> a way around that. The mv command thinks it is me trying to include a >> option. It spits out something like this. >> >> >> mv: unrecognized option '---ne.avi' >> >> >> Some of the other characters I run into look like this. >> >> >> ���� >> >> >> Those I can usually get around with wildcards. I have not found a way >> to get around the ones with the dash in front tho. I tried a single >> quote, double quote etc but still no worky. Also, tab completion >> doesn't help either. >> >> One reason I want to change these, it makes Frank's script puke on my >> keyboard. It reacts the same way with Franks script as it does when I >> try to use cp or mv. Why someone would name files that way is beyond me. >> >> What is the trick to rename these files? I've tried mv, Dolphin, >> Krusader and such. There has to be a way but I can't figure out what it >> is. Heck, I'm not even sure what to search for to find out how to do >> this. >> >> Thanks. >> >> Dale >> >> :-) :-) > In a terminal running bash you can try: > > mv ./-ne.avi newname.avi > > or use a double dash to indicate end of options for the preceding command: > > mv -- -ne.avi newname.avi > > For a GUI-fied application, you can use 'kde-misc/krename'.
Now that is awesome. The first one works great. Haven't had the need to try others yet but figure they would work too. Finally, I can rename these files with weird characters. I never knew a -- meant end of options before. Been using Linux for a couple decades and never saw that info. Krename is a tool I use a LOT. Kinda overkill for this. It seems whoever decided to use those characters in file names tends to only put one or two in a directory. Usually when I use Krename, I am processing a lot of files. Sometimes I'll process 200 files or more. Awesome tool tho. I just use it when it is faster than renaming manually. Thanks much. Dale :-) :-) P. S. Anyone storing files long term, you should really consider using Franks script. It is a really neat tool.
