How do I remove the same part of a file name for many files in Windows 7?

Basically, I have an album of music and I want to remove the authors name from all of the mp3 files instead of having to manually do it myself. Is there a function in Windows 7 Ultimate that can do this for me?

Solution 1:

You could also try using PowerShell, a powerful Windows command line tool. You'd run this command:

Full Command:

get-childitem *.mp3 | foreach { rename-item $_ $_.Name.Replace("Radiohead -", "") }

Analyzing it:

get-childitem *.mp3
This lists all files whose names end with .mp3.  They are then piped to the next command with the | operator.

foreach { rename-item $_ $_.Name.Replace("Radiohead -", "") }
This replaces all instances of Radiohead - with nothing, denoted by "", effectively wiping the word from all the files in the directory.

You could also modify get-childitem *.mp3 to get-childitem – that would rename all the files in the directory, not just files whose names end with .mp3.

Solution 2:

Forget about complicated scripts for this.

rename is a very old and never properly completed command. If you do not use it properly, the result might surprise you.

For example to remove a prefix abcd from abcd1.txt, abcd2.txt, abcd3.txt etc. in order to get 1.txt, 2.txt, 3.txt simply use

rename "abcd*.txt" "////*.txt"

You need the same number of / as the number of initial characters you would like to remove.

Do place double quotes for both arguments.

Solution 3:

This might work.

Create a batch file as follows:

for %%i in ("*.mp3") do (set fname=%%i) & call :rename
goto :eof
:rename
::Cuts off 1st four chars, then appends prefix
ren "%fname%" "my%fname:~4%"
goto :eof

Source: http://www.codejacked.com/renaming-multiple-files-at-once-windows (in the comments, from "BlueNovember")

Solution 4:

ReNamer can do that. In ReNamer, just add a 'remove' rule like this (a 'delete' rule will also work):

And then drag and drop the files, or the folder containing the files you want renamed to its window (or use the 'Add Files/Folders' buttons), then check the preview, and once verified, click on 'Rename':