Batch renaming files by PowerShell?

Question

How can I rename files in a folder that have random names and random extensions to a sequence like the example below: 0001.pdf 0002.pdf ..... 0100.png and continue.

And if possible then generate a .txt file with the names and extensions generated.

For the .txt file if not possible Powershel could be another application.

Searching I got the code below, but I can't fix it for the task I need.

Dir | Rename-Item –NewName { $_.name –replace " - ","0" }

[ref]$i = 1; Get-ChildItem | Rename-Item -NewName { "{0}{1}"-f $i.Value++, $_.Extension } should work as well. — Abraham Zinala
– Abraham Zinala, Commented Aug 26, 2022 at 13:47

Mathias R. Jessen · Accepted Answer · 2022-08-26 13:02:09Z

1

Wrap the call to Rename-Item in ForEach-Object then maintain a counter in a variable:

$fileNumber = 1 Get-ChildItem path\to\folder\containing\random\files -File |ForEach-Object { # Construct new file name $newName = '{0:0000}{1}' -f $fileNumber,$_.Extension # Perform rename $_ |Rename-Item -NewName $newName # Increment number $fileNumber++ }

answered Aug 26, 2022 at 13:02

Mathias R. Jessen

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2 Comments

kasten Over a year ago

@mathias-r-jessen Worked perfectly. Is there any application or even powershell that takes these generated files and makes a list in a .txt file with the generated names?

Mathias R. Jessen Over a year ago

@kasten you mean after the fact? You can do that fairly easily with Get-ChildItem path\to\folder\containing\random\files -File |Select -Expand Name |Out-File path\to\inventory.txt

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