# Seeking Batch File-Rename Software

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-batch-file-rename-software/364647>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 15, 2006, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-batch-file-rename-software/364647 "2006-07-15T19:53:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\
**Post date:** [July 15, 2006, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-batch-file-rename-software/364647/1 "2006-07-15T19:53:07Z")

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I’m looking for a program (for running in Windows XP) to do batch-renames of files, with the capabilities:

1. Ability to filter on the (original) file name (e.g. to change the names of files that still have the “IMG\*.JPG” names assigned by the digital camera, but leave ones that have been given descriptive names alone).

2. Ability to construct file names from metadata (e.g. date-and-time tags on images, author or title on MP3s, etc).

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**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\
**Post date:** [July 15, 2006, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-batch-file-rename-software/364647/2 "2006-07-15T19:59:27Z")

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Can’t help you with the others, but [The Godfather](http://users.otenet.gr/~jtcliper/tgf/) is the best thing I’ve seen to rename .mp3 files. Bit of a learning curve though.

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**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\
**Post date:** [July 16, 2006, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-batch-file-rename-software/364647/3 "2006-07-16T01:15:14Z")

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To get you started …

[http://www.1-4a.com/rename/](http://www.1-4a.com/rename/)

[http://www.herve-thouzard.com/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=1](http://www.herve-thouzard.com/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=1)

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**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\
**Post date:** [July 16, 2006, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-batch-file-rename-software/364647/4 "2006-07-16T19:06:29Z")

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[Rename Master](http://www.joejoesoft.com/vcms/108/) is the best program I’ve found.

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**Author:** ![urban1a](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47c2d/32.png) [@urban1a](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/urban1a)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-batch-file-rename-software/364647/5 "2006-07-17T02:41:42Z")

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Checkout A.F.5 Rename. I downloaded it from [Download.com](http://Download.com) and it was free and did exactly what I wanted.

Bob

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-batch-file-rename-software/364647/6 "2006-07-17T07:32:46Z")

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A couple of weeks ago, I tried a number of different utilities to batch rename files. The one I found best was called ReNamer, from here:  
[http://www.redbrick.dcu.ie/~den4b/](http://www.redbrick.dcu.ie/~den4b/)