PHP bulk rename, with more than one renaming function

Question

I'm new to PHP and I'm trying to do something similar to what user580950 asked about at Bulk Rename Files in a Folder - PHP .

I want to write a script that will iterate over the names of all the files and directories in a given directory and do two things: replace the spaces with dashes and convert all caps to lowercase.

Based on the answer in the aforementioned question, and the PHP manual entries for the required functions, I came up with the following code:

if ($handle = opendir('/Users/username/Documents/School')) {

    while (false !== ($file_name = readdir($handle))) { 
        $to_lower = strtolower($file_name);
        $add_dashes = str_replace(" ", "-", $to_lower);
        rename($file_name , $add_dashes);
    }

    closedir($handle);
}

This code returns the following error for every single file/directory in the target directory:

Warning: rename(THE 273,the-273): No such file or directory in /Users/username/Sites/PHP/rename_files_in_directory.php on line 8

I've tried rearranging things in all kinds of ways, and I am completely stumped as to where the trouble is. I'm running PHP 5.3.8 on Mac OSX.6.8 .

Help will be greatly appreciated!

Do you need to put the full filepath in your call to `rename()`? — andrewsi, Sep 06 '12 at 18:06
I didn't think so, because I thought that the opendir() function opens the directory, but maybe that is the problem — John Aten, Sep 06 '12 at 18:46

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 06 '12 at 18:31

2

You need to escape spaces. Try renaming directly using:

<?php

if ($handle = opendir('/Users/username/Documents/School')) {

    while (false !== ($file_name = readdir($handle))) { 
        $to_lower = strtolower($file_name);
        $add_dashes = str_replace(" ", "-", $to_lower);
        exec("mv ".escapeshellarg($file_name). " ". $to_lower);
        }

    closedir($handle);
    }
?>

answered Sep 06 '12 at 18:31

raidenace

12,789
1
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@Raidence , Although, when I tried the same script with the path to a different directory, I get a similar error: `Warning: rename(Sivulka 3,6,7 analysis.odt,sivulka-3,6,7-analysis.odt): No such file or directory in /Users/username/Sites/PHP/rename_files_in_directory.php on line 8 usage: mv [-f | -i | -n] [-v] source target mv [-f | -i | -n] [-v] source ... directory` Does it matter if the entries are files or directories? – John Aten Sep 07 '12 at 02:01
No, it does not matter, I tried creating `Sivulka 3,6,7 analysis.odt` as both dir and file and renamed them both successfully using the script above. Were you able to rename other files in that dir? – raidenace Sep 07 '12 at 13:50
The first directory I tried it on contained only other directories. I tried changing the path to another directory and got errors, as far as I can see nothing is different except the path. – John Aten Sep 08 '12 at 17:30

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 06 '12 at 18:11

1

$path = '/Users/username/Documents/School';
[...]
rename("$path/$file_name", "$path/$add_dashes");
[...]

or

chdir ('/Users/username/Documents/School');

before your code.

answered Sep 06 '12 at 18:11

InternetSeriousBusiness

2,605
16
17

I ultimately didn't need to do this, but I did try it and I got the same error as before, with an additional 'division by zero' error. – John Aten Sep 06 '12 at 18:52

PHP bulk rename, with more than one renaming function

2 Answers2