Rename by Text List

[Mesh]

With XY supporting RegEx renaming, there's very little insofar as renaming jobs that it can't handle.

However, there is one type of renaming job that very few apps support, which there is no substitute for, and this is what I'm making a feature request for. And that is to rename by text list.


With this, you would select a number of files/folders to rename, and in the rename dialog, you would paste from the clipboard a text list of replacement names (obviously, the number of items on the list must match the number of items to be renamed). The files/folders would be renamed using the items in the text list - in order, top to bottom.

This allows you to perform renaming jobs where there is no way to algorithmically address the goal in question. For example, if a developer needs a set of test files to test file/folder name parsing - he can create a text list of the various permutations he wants, create a number of empty files, and then rename them by text list in one shot. There is no way to substitute this functionality - the only alternative is to rename each file individually.

A pleasant side effect of this is that it can also be used to circumvent limitations in renaming functions. For example, XY's Case Changing rename functions all have the same limitation - they stop at the last period, assuming that it's the dot before the extention. The problem is that if you're renaming a folder (which would have no extention), and uses periods in its name, the case change will be incomplete. For example "test ch. 1 - introductory chapter" will become "Test Ch. 1 - introductory chapter".

If XY could rename by text list, I could copy the file/folder names into a text editor, change the case there, and then rename the original folders using the newly created list.


Now, obviously, Don could just fix the example above to work properly with folders - but the point is that there are always renaming jobs which cannot be easily addressed with the usual functions, but can be done in a text editor - either because it requires a script due to complexity, or because it needs to be a completely manually generated (or altered) list.

In the past, I've used an Autohotkey script (Lightning Renamer) whenever I've had to use this function. But it would be nice if XY could tackle it on its own.


Anyway, that's my suggestion. Would anybody else find this useful?

[admin]

- I'll fix the dot thing.
- This wish is on my personal wish list since long.
- I think somebody (jacky?) has written a script to rename by list...

[Mesh]

- I'll fix the dot thing.
- This wish is on my personal wish list since long.
- I think somebody (jacky?) has written a script to rename by list...

Thank you (x3).

[mwb1100]

If XY could rename by text list, I could copy the file/folder names into a text editor, change the case there, and then rename the original folders using the newly created list.

I've done this exact thing before, but in a less-easy-to-do fashion - I turned the list of existing filenames to a command script that was a bunch of rename commands. I've found this to be a tedious and error-prone process.

Having XY support Mesh's suggestion would be nice. But I do it infrequently enough that it's not a huge deal. I'm honestly not sure I'd remember that it might support it - I probably would end up doing the command script anyway...

[jacky]

- I think somebody (jacky?) has written a script to rename by list...

Yep, script can be found here: http://88.191.26.34/XYscripts/script/multi-item-rename
(In a similar idea, here's one to create a bunch of files/folders by entering a names: http://88.191.26.34/XYscripts/script/batch-new-items)

[Muroph]

Yep, script can be found here: http://88.191.26.34/XYscripts/script/multi-item-rename
(In a similar idea, here's one to create a bunch of files/folders by entering a names: http://88.191.26.34/XYscripts/script/batch-new-items)

after the "while" loops came out i modified these scripts to use the new syntax.
i did it for personal use, but i can post them if anyone wants.

p.s. these are two of my favorite scripts.
thanks jacky!

[Mesh]

I tried that script, but it's not suitable as it only works for a maximum of 256 files (I was trying to rename about 9000).

So, I'll renew my request for this to be a built in feature.

[admin]

I tried that script, but it's not suitable as it only works for a maximum of 256 files (I was trying to rename about 9000).

So, I'll renew my request for this to be a built in feature.

I think the Muroph script does the job for now.

[Mesh]

I think the Muroph script does the job for now.

Drat! Dodged again!