How can I remove the same tag from many MP3 filenames at once?
Asked by
MellowCedar42
I'm using Fedora and downloaded a large batch of songs for an MP3 player. Many filenames begin with "[SPOTDOWNLOADER.COM]" followed by the actual song title. How can I remove that unwanted text from all the MP3 filenames in one operation instead of renaming each file individually?
Answers
On Fedora, the command may be installed as `prename` rather than `rename`, depending on the package you have. The equivalent is `prename 's/[SPOTDOWNLOADER.COM]//' *.mp3`. If there is sometimes a dot or space next to the tag, you can include it in the pattern so you don’t end up with an awkward double separator, for example: `rename 's/.?[SPOTDOWNLOADER.COM] ?//' *.mp3`.
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A Perl-based bulk rename command is a good fit. From the directory containing the files, try a dry run first: `rename -n 's/[SPOTDOWNLOADER.COM]//' *.mp3`. If the proposed names look correct, run it again without `-n` to perform the renames. The square brackets need escaping because they have a special meaning in regular expressions.
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If you prefer a graphical tool, bulk renamers such as KRename, GPRename, or features built into some file managers can perform a find-and-replace across many filenames. That can be easier if you want to preview every change without using a terminal.
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SilverMaple31: Definitely use the no-action option first if your version supports it. That lets you inspect the resulting filenames before changing anything.