Rename File with Creation Date & Time in Windows Batch

Question

I have a directory tree with thousands of pdfs and tifs. A folder may contain multiple pdfs or tifs in that case they are numbered 1.pdf, 2.pdf etc... I have to make them available and making sure they are maually processed oldest files first - so I want to rename them with their creation date and time (1.pdf -> 20150415481876.pdf):

Currently I use

@echo off  
set datetime=%~t1
set name=%~n1 
set extension=%~x1
set year=%datetime:~6,4%
set month=%datetime:~3,2%
set day=%datetime:~0,2%
set hour=%datetime:~11,2%
set min=%datetime:~14,2%
ren %1 "%year%%month%%day%%hour%%min%%name%%extension%"

This can now properly rename a file 1.tif to 2014052513241.tif (file created 25.05.2014 13:24). But how can i make this able to handle multiple file in the same folder (e.g. 1.tif 2.tif 3.tif) if i call the batch with batch.bat *.tif? Thank you

Answer 1

@if (@X)==(@Y) @end /* JScript comment
    @echo off

    set "extension=tiff"
    set "directory=c:\somedir"

    pushd "%directory%"

    setlocal enableDelayedExpansion
    for %%a in (*%extension%) do (
        for /f %%# in ('cscript //E:JScript //nologo "%~f0" %%a') do set "cdate=%%#"
        echo ren "%%a" "!cdate!%%~xa"
    )

    rem cscript //E:JScript //nologo "%~f0" %*
    exit /b %errorlevel%
@if (@X)==(@Y) @end JScript comment */


FSOObj = new ActiveXObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject");
var ARGS = WScript.Arguments;
var file=ARGS.Item(0);

var d1=FSOObj.GetFile(file).DateCreated;

d2=new Date(d1);
var year=d2.getFullYear();
var mon=d2.getMonth();
var day=d2.getDate();
var h=d2.getHours();
var m=d2.getMinutes();
var s=d2.getSeconds();
var ms=d2.getMilliseconds();

if (mon<10){mon="0"+mon;}
if (day<10){day="0"+day;}
if (h<10){h="0"+h;}
if (m<10){m="0"+m;}
if (s<10){s="0"+s;}
if (ms<10){ms="00"+ms;}else if(ms<100){ms="0"+ms;}

WScript.Echo(""+year+mon+day+h+m+s+ms);

set your own extension and directory to rename all files with given extension in directory to their creation date.The format will be YYYYMMDDhhmm.Renaming is echoed so you can see if everything is ok.If it is remove the echo word from the 9th line.

Answer 2

Here is a native Windows CMD Method of doing this (no vb/java script needed).

If you want to be really quick and simple just use this at the CMD window instead of writing a batch at all:

FOR /R "Drive:\folder\subfolder\" %Z IN (*.tiff) DO @( FOR /F "Tokens=1-6 delims=:-\/. " %A IN ("%~tZ") DO @( ren "%~dpnxZ" "%~C%~A%~B%~D%~E%~F%~nZ%~xZ") )

If you still prefer a batch/CMD file, this is a re-write of your script to work as the CMD, and re-write all of the files in a directory matching a certain search pattern to be in the format "YYYYMMDDHHM[Name][extention]"

@(
  SETLOCAL  
  echo off
  SET "_Skip=NO"
  Set "_elvl=0"
)
IF /I "%~2" EQU "" (
  SET "_Skip=YES"
)
IF /I "%~1" EQU "/?" (
  SET "_Skip=YES"
)
IF /I "%~1" EQU "?" (
  SET "_Skip=YES"
)
IF /I "%_Skip%" EQU "YES" (
  ECHO. Usage:
  ECHO.
  ECHO.  Rename.bat "Drive:\Path\" "File Glob to match"
  ECHO.
  ECHO. Example:
  ECHO. 
  ECHO.   Rename.bat "C:\Users\%Username%\Desktop\" "*.lnk"
  ECHO.
  Set "_elvl=2"
  GOTO :Finish
)
ECHO. Searching through "%~1" for Files matching this pattern: "%~2"
ECHO.
FOR /R "%~1" %%Z IN (%~2) DO ( FOR /F "Tokens=1-6 delims=:-\/. " %%A IN ("%%~tZ") DO ( REN "%%~dpnxZ" "%%~C%%~A%%~B%%~D%%~E%%~F%%~nZ%%~xZ) )
ECHO.
ECHO. Completed rename of all files matching pattern "%~2" which were found within path: "%~1"
ECHO.
:Finish
(
  EndLocal
  EXIT /B %_elvl%
)