How do I serially rename multiple files at once in shell scripting (or python)?

Question

I have this dir with multiple *.mp4 files. I would like to add serial no. in order as a prefix, still keeping the original name unchanged. I'm quite new to shell scripting, (also couldnt find a proper answer on google) so It would be nice if someone explains it to me. If it can be done with python, It would be even better!(i know py little bit)

The shell code i wrote:
n=01
for f in *.mp4; do
    mv -- "$f" "$n+01. {f%.mp4}"
done

What my dir looked like:
***.mp4
***.mp4
***.mp4

What it looks like now:
01+01. {f%.mp4}

What I expect to happen:
01. ***.mp4
02. ***.mp4
.
.
12. ***.mp4

Thanking you in advance.

Please check : https://stackoverflow.com/a/23229147 iterate and use `mv` command — Jaydeep Devda, Nov 14 '22 at 06:23
It is not clear from your question: Do you have problems **looping** over files, or, given a single file, do you have problems **renaming** it? — user1934428, Nov 14 '22 at 08:20
Have a read here https://stackoverflow.com/a/56579912/2836621 — Mark Setchell, Nov 14 '22 at 09:28

Pedram Porbaha · Answer 1 · 2022-11-14T07:44:45.950

In Python, several ways to do this, for example:

import os

os.chdir(path)  # Enter your desired path like r"D:\My Articles\Phd\ACCRUFER"
allFiles = os.listdir()

mp4Files = [file for file in allfiles if file.endswith('.mp4')]
for i, file in enumerate(files, 1):
    index = str(i).zfill(2)   # to make 1 -> '01' 
    newName = index + '.' + file
    os.rename(file, newName)
    print(file, 'Renamed to', newName)

How do I serially rename multiple files at once in shell scripting (or python)?

1 Answers1