Why isn't "rename" in the base installation?

N

nickednamed

I'm not trying to tell anyone what should or shouldn't be in the base system, but when I type "man rename" I get the manual for the rename program, desipte the fact it is not installed.

So just wondering, if it is not installed, why do I have the manual page?

And how do other people batch rename their files? mv?
 
nickednamed said:
I'm not trying to tell anyone what should or shouldn't be in the base system, but when I type "man rename" I get the manual for the rename program, desipte the fact it is not installed.

So just wondering, if it is not installed, why do I have the manual page?

And how do other people batch rename their files? mv?
Click to expand...

check the title of rename(2)
FreeBSD System Calls Manual
Click to expand...

what you are looking for is mv(1)

For batch renaming there are probably some scripts or programs in ports, but I haven't need for that. Usually I simply write my own sh script
 
Batch renaming is a bit tricky, be very, very careful with using wildcards with the mv command!

I regularly download stuff and I sometimes get names like:
Code: 
Series_1of3.avi
Series_2of3.avi
Series_3of3.avi

x11-fm/thunar is quite helpful if you enable PLUG_SBR_PCRE. The Bulk Rename tool can then use pcre so it's easy to transform them into this in just one go.
Code: 
Series_1x01.avi
Series_1x02.avi
Series_1x03.avi

A simple "(\d+)of\d+" to "1x0$1" renames the lot if you select them all and choose "rename".
 
Thanks for clearing that up.

I'm currently using sysutils/rename because:
  1. I've been unlucky [stupid] with "mv" before.
  2. My scripting skills are virtually non-existent.
  3. I like fast, light, CLI apps.

So far, so good :) I haven't lost anything yet and I'm getting a chance to practice my regular expressions.
 
nickednamed said:
I'm not trying to tell anyone what should or shouldn't be in the base system, but when I type "man rename" I get the manual for the rename program, desipte the fact it is not installed.

So just wondering, if it is not installed, why do I have the manual page?

And how do other people batch rename their files? mv?
Click to expand...

Okay I see. There is a third party port which bares the same name as the c library function.

According the man page:
Code: 
STANDARDS
     The rename() system call is expected to conform to ISO/IEC 9945-1:1996
     (``POSIX.1'').  The renameat() system call follows The Open Group
     Extended API Set 2 specification.
It's in base because it's part of the posix c standard and FreeBSD is a posix compatible system. The third party port on the other hand is not so it is not in base.

I use mv(1). It's usually part of a larger script as graudeejs suggested in contrast to a one-liner.
 
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