#!/bin/sh # we have less than 3 arguments. Print the help text: if [ $# -lt 3 ] ; then cat <<HELP ren -- rename a number of files using sed regular expressions USAGE: ren 'regexp' 'replacement' files... EXAMPLE: rename all *.HTM files in *.html: ren 'HTM$' 'html' *.HTM HELP exit 0 fi OLD="$1" NEW="$2" # The shift command removes one argument from the list of # command line arguments. shift shift # $* contains now all the files: for file in $*; do if [ -f "$file" ] ; then newfile=`echo "$file" | sed "s/${OLD}/${NEW}/g"` if [ -f "$newfile" ]; then echo "ERROR: $newfile exists already" else echo "renaming $file to $newfile ..." mv "$file" "$newfile" fi fi done