Renaming the beginning of a file name in Python

Question

I am attempting to create an executable that renames all files in its folder.

I am lost on how to reference (and add to) the beginning of a file name.

For example:

file_text.xlsx

What I need it to look like:

10-30-2021_file_text.xlsx

I would like to append to the beginning of the file name, and add my own string(s)

NOTE: 'file_text' are randomly generated file names, and all unique. So I would need to keep the unique names and just add to the beginning of each unique file name.

Here is what I have so far to rename the other files, I figured I could reference a space but this did not work as there are no spaces.

import os directory = os.getcwd() txt_replaced = ' ' txt_needed = '2021-10-31' for f in os.listdir(directory): os.rename(os.path.join(directory, f), os.path.join(directory, f.replace(txt_needed, txt_replaced)))

I also am curious if there is a way to reference specific positions within the file name.

For example:

text_text1.csv

If there is a way to uppercase only 'text1'?

Thank you!

Sidenote: in f.replace(txt_needed, txt_replaced), you have the arguments backwards — wjandrea
– wjandrea, Commented Oct 15, 2021 at 4:31
For your additional question, see How do I convert only specific parts of a string to uppercase in Python?, or if you're looking for pattern matching, Making letters uppercase using re.sub in python? — wjandrea
– wjandrea, Commented Oct 15, 2021 at 4:36

Barmar · Accepted Answer · 2021-10-15 04:30:12Z

replace() doesn't work because there's no space character at the beginning of the filename. So there's nothing to replace.

You also didn't add the _ character after the date.

Just use ordinary string concatenation or formatting

for f in os.listdir(directory): os.rename(os.path.join(directory, f), os.path.join(directory, f"{txt_needed}_{f}"))

Thanks, this was a simple fix. I was unaware you can reference the {f} within an f string. Appreciate it.

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