for I in *.jpg; do mv $I `echo $I |sed s#pict00##`; done you can type that directly on the command line, which as I gather from your question will strip out the pict00 as you want. this works for up to 99 files of course. --sean Josef Lowder wrote: > Can anyone provide a simple shell script command to > change the file names of all the files in a given directory? > from pict0001.jpg to just 01.jpg > from pict0002.jpg to just 02.jpg etc. etc. > with the numbers running to a few hundred pix, all with > the same "pict00..." first part of the filename. > > I looked on the 'net to find a shell script to "mass" rename the files > in any given directory and found the example below to rename the > suffix from php3 to just php, but I couldn't figure out how to modify > that to change the filename itself. > > ls -d *.php3 | sed 's/\(.*\).php3$/mv "&" "\1.php"/' | sh > > I also found a *nix utility on my system named 'rename' but I > couldn't get it to work. Below is an excerpt from the 'man' page > for 'rename' ... but what in the world is 'foo'?? > > MAN PAGE excerpt: > rename will rename the specified files by replacing > the first occurrence of from in their name by to. > For example, given the files foo1, ..., foo9, foo10, ..., foo278, the > commands > > rename foo foo0 foo? > rename foo foo0 foo?? > > will turn them into foo001, ..., foo009, foo010, ..., foo278. > And > rename .htm .html *.htm will fix the extension of your html files. > > --------------------------------------------------- > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change you mail settings: > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss --------------------------------------------------- PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change you mail settings: http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss