I have a folder of images taken on two different mobile phones. The two phones use slightly different file name formats. I want to change one of them to match the other so I have a neat photo album.
How can I change a file name from 20110809_121158.jpg to 2011-08-09 12.11.58.jpg?
It will be great if the solution comes by using Powershell but any other option is also welcome!
Here's one way to do it, using SubString:
function getNewFileName($fname) { $year = $fname.SubString(0,4) $month = $fname.SubString(4,2) $day = $fname.SubString(6,2) $hours = $fname.SubString(9,2) $minutes = $fname.SubString(11,2) $seconds = $fname.SubString(13,2) $new_fname = [string]::Format( "{0}-{1}-{2} {3}.{4}.{5}.jpg", $year,$month,$day,$hours,$minutes,$seconds) return $new_fname; } To use this to rename a selection of file entries in a folder, you can use something like this:
$fileEntries = Get-ChildItem *_* -name foreach($fileName in $fileEntries) { $newFileName = getNewFileName($fileName) Write-Host -NoNewLine Rename-Item $filename $newFileName Write-Host } As written, this script won't actually change anything - it lets you preview what would change by outputting the proposed rename command to the console. To actually rename the files you'd have to remove the "Write-Host" statements. This script assumes that all you have in the folder are the two types of file names you mentioned.
$fileEntries = Get-ChildItem *_* -name Selects only files containing an underscore so we don't try to rename the other type of file. This script is meant to run in the subject folder; running it elsewhere might do strange things to the wrong files.
