batch file remove prefix of directory name

Question

I'm trying to remove a prefix of some directories.

I have many directories with names like '991234', '991235', '991236'. I want to remove the '99' from these folder names. The result needs to be a rename of the directories. They should be renamed to '1234', '1235', '1236'.

After some search I could write this script:

for /f "tokens=*" %%a in ('dir 99* /A:D /b') do ren "%%a" "00_%%a"

this script find all directories starting with '99' and call ren for each of them. The problem is that I could not remove the '99' part to apply in the folder name.

Does this answer your question? [Rename or Remove Characters From a Filename with PowerShell](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/37350752/rename-or-remove-characters-from-a-filename-with-powershell) — Reza Kia, Jul 20 '22 at 04:35

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited Jul 20 '22 at 07:41

@ECHO OFF
SETLOCAL ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION
:: I use a test directory name that includes spaces to verify that the routine works with such directorynames
:: Use SET "sourcedir=." for the current directory
SET "sourcedir=u:\your files\t w o"
for /f "tokens=*" %%a in ('dir /A:D /b "%sourcedir%\99*"') do SET "dirname=%%a"&ECHO ren "%sourcedir%\%%a" "!dirname:~2!"

GOTO :EOF

The metavariable %%a needs to be assigned to a user variable for manipulation. Since the user variable will change value within the code block, delayedexpansion needs to be invoked.

See for /? and set /? for documentation, as well as Stephan's DELAYEDEXPANSION link: https://stackoverflow.com/a/30284028/2128947

The required REN commands are merely ECHOed for testing purposes. After you've verified that the commands are correct, change ECHO REN to REN to actually rename the directories.

Always verify against a test directory before applying to real data.

batch file remove prefix of directory name

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