find and replace

[Dazed_75]

Close.  It is a Perl program/script, but your assumptions were correct:

RENAME(1)              Perl Programmers Reference Guide
> RENAME(1)
>
> NAME
>        rename - renames multiple files
>
> SYNOPSIS
>        rename [ -v ] [ -n ] [ -f ] perlexpr [ files ]
>
> DESCRIPTION
>        "rename" renames the filenames supplied according to the rule
> specified
>        as the first argument.  The perlexpr argument is a Perl expression
>        which is expected to modify the $_ string in Perl for at least some
> of
>        the filenames specified.  If a given filename is not modified by the
>        expression, it will not be renamed.  If no filenames are given on
> the
>        command line, filenames will be read via standard input.
>
>
On Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 11:04 AM, Paul Mooring <paul at opscode.com> wrote:

>   I don't have the original conversation, but I would assume rename is a
> script taking 2 arguments.  The first a regex to replace the title and the
> second the file list.  This would mean rename is the script to be executed,
> the regex is as I described before and the *.JPG would shell expand to any
> file whose name ends in '*.JPG'.
>  --
> Paul Mooring
> Systems Engineer and Customer Advocate
>
>  www.opscode.com
>
>   From: Michael Havens <bmike1 at gmail.com>
> Reply-To: Main discussion list <plug-discuss at lists.plug.phoenix.az.us>
> Date: Tuesday, September 11, 2012 10:47 AM
>
> To: Main discussion list <plug-discuss at lists.plug.phoenix.az.us>
> Subject: Re: find and replace
>
>   So the full string I was given is:
>
>    rename 's/\.JPG$/.jpg/' *.JPG
>
>  So what does the *.JPG do? If you 's(earch)/string/(replace)string' then
> what is the need for *JPG?
> :-)~MIKE~(-:
>
>
> On Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 9:49 AM, Paul Mooring <paul at opscode.com> wrote:
>
>>   When you do search and replace, the replace section is literal not a
>> pattern match.  So piece by piece:
>> s/ # This means match the first section and replace with the second
>> \.JPG$/  # This means a literal '.' at any point in the string followed
>> by 'JPG' then the end of the line
>> .jpg/ # This is the string to replace the previous regex with '.jpg'
>>  --
>> Paul Mooring
>> Systems Engineer and Customer Advocate
>>
>>  www.opscode.com
>>
>>   From: Michael Havens <bmike1 at gmail.com>
>> Reply-To: Main discussion list <plug-discuss at lists.plug.phoenix.az.us>
>> Date: Tuesday, September 11, 2012 9:42 AM
>> To: Main discussion list <plug-discuss at lists.plug.phoenix.az.us>
>> Subject: Re: find and replace
>>
>>  Hate to resurrect old stuff but in
>>
>>     rename 's/\.JPG$/.jpg/' *.JPG
>>
>>  is this saying to s(earch)/(for the string).JPG$/(replace with).jpg/ ?
>> Why does one not need the escape character (\) before the period here or
>> before the final JPG? What does the *.JPG at the end signify?
>> :-)~MIKE~(-:
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Feb 21, 2012 at 7:32 AM, Sam Kreimeyer <skreimey at gmail.com>wrote:
>>
>>> Here's a pdf of a quick guide to regular expressions
>>>
>>> http://www.addedbytes.com/download/regular-expressions-cheat-sheet-v1/pdf/
>>>
>>> Basically, it's a format for defining search patterns that supports
>>> special meanings for certain characters. For instance:
>>>
>>> a - finds any string like "a"
>>> a. - finds any string like "a" plus any other character except a new
>>> line (matches "aa", "ab", "ac", etc)
>>> a.* - finds any string like "a" plus zero or more characters except a
>>> new line (matches "aa", "abcdefghijk")
>>> Other special characters can further modify this behavior.
>>>
>>> So here's an explanation of the earlier command.
>>>
>>> 's/\.JPG$/.jpg/' *.JPG
>>>
>>> Basic search and replace format s/[string we search for]/[string to
>>> replace matches with]/
>>>
>>> "\.JPG$" - Because "." is special, we escape it with "\" to keep the
>>> regex from interpreting it, so the "." will be treated literally. "JPG" is
>>> what we're looking for. Placing a "$" at the end of the string tells the
>>> regex to match the string only at the end of the strings you're searching.
>>> This means that you will match "example.JPG" but not "JPG.example".
>>>
>>> ".jpg" - This is our replacement string. This is what goes in the place
>>> of every match we find.
>>>
>>> "*.JPG" - while this isn't part of the regex, "*" is a wildcard (can be
>>> substituted for any number of characters).
>>>
>>> Hope that helps!
>>>
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>>
>>
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Dazed_75 a.k.a. Larry

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