Sorry if this belongs elsewhere !!! Perhaps the Admin can move if necessary
I have 2000 files that begins with two spaces then the File Name… I wish to remove the two spaces.
I have “A Better Finder Rename 11”, “Automator” and “Hazel” but cannot figure out how to do this…
Please advise
Please advise
A Better Finder Rename supports regular expressions, which would Give a robust solution but I don’t see any documentation beyond sales info on their web site. I suspect the powerful options are in the advanced side bar, but it is not a product I use.
But let’s assume that the only place you have two spaces is at the start of the file names. If so, you should be able to replace it just using Finder’s rename.
There’s a description of how in this TidBits article.
If you have double spaces in multiple places in the filenames, then a different approach is required. It can be done via the terminal, but the advanced options in A Better Finder Rename would probably be easier for you to use.
Hope that helps.
You can remove the first two characters of a file name in “A Better Finder Rename 11” by setting it up as shown in the attached screenshot.
Brilliant !!! Many thanks
@rphillipchuk, looks like you’ve received the information sufficient to solve your problem. But related to this topic, I thought I’d add the following…
The Finder does include more rename power than is obvious: Step By Step: Using The Mac Batch Rename Tool
Unless I’m missing something, the Finder batch rename will work to remove file prefixes unless these prefixes are consistent AND do NOT appear elsewhere in the file names.
For those that don’t have A Better Finder Rename X but are willing to use Terminal, here are some options:
A wealth of info… A GREAT Group…
Or Cud use this applescript
Select the Files which needs renaming & run
set searchString to "--"
set replaceString to ""
tell application "Finder" to set SourceFiles to (get selection as alias list)
if SourceFiles is {} then display dialog "No files to Rename." -- Nothing to do
try
tell application "Finder"
repeat with aFile in SourceFiles
set aFilePath to POSIX path of (aFile as text) -- Include path/to/ filename.ext
set aFileName to name of aFile -- this is filename.ext
set aFileExt to name extension of aFile --.ext
set aFileNameSanExt to my remove_extension(aFileName) -- filename, no ext
set NewFileSanExt to my replace_text(aFileNameSanExt, searchString, replaceString)
set newName to NewFileSanExt & "." & aFileExt
set name of aFile to newName
end repeat
end tell
end try
on replace_text(this_text, search_string, replacement_string)
set prevTIDs to AppleScript's text item delimiters
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to the search_string
set the item_list to every text item of this_text
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to the replacement_string
set this_text to the item_list as string
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to prevTIDs
return this_text
end replace_text
on remove_extension(this_name)
if this_name contains "." then
set this_name to ¬
(the reverse of every character of this_name) as string
set x to the offset of "." in this_name
set this_name to (text (x + 1) thru -1 of this_name)
set this_name to (the reverse of every character of this_name) as string
end if
return this_name
end remove_extension
Info272
Many thanks… This will be kept…