Capitalize first letter of all subfolders and files with bash

Question

I'm trying to rename all my folders and its files so that the first letter is a capital.

I've got this script which does that for the current directory:

rename -f 's/./\U$&/' *

This is working great. How can I run this command in every subfolder (**/*)?

Since you are using bash, you must first enable `**`: `shopt -s globstar`. — user1934428, Jul 25 '23 at 13:42
But which `rename` are you using? According to [this](https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man1/rename.1.html), there is no `-f` option for `rename`. — user1934428, Jul 25 '23 at 13:45
I used `brew install rename`. Got this working with a warning that files are not directories but does the job: `for d in ./**/* ; do (cd "$d" && rename -f 's/./\U$&/' *); done` — Alexander, Jul 25 '23 at 13:48
^ Actually skips current directory which should also be included — Alexander, Jul 25 '23 at 13:49

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 25 '23 at 14:25

1

After running a few tests and jumping around the forums, I put together the following:

find . -depth -execdir rename -f 's/./\U$&/' {} +

The following answer to a similar question does a great job explaining the -depth and -execdir options and why they're necessary for this particular scenario. I was struggling to get it to work until I swapped -exec with -execdir!

Find multiple files and rename them in Linux

answered Jul 25 '23 at 14:25

paul

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4

1

Thank you, there were indeed other similar questions but I couldn't get it to work. This one works like a charm. – Alexander Jul 25 '23 at 16:19
Glad I could help! – paul Jul 25 '23 at 18:56
Shouldn't there be also a `-type f`? With your command, directories would be renamed as well. – user1934428 Jul 26 '23 at 06:20
@user1934428 `-type f` can be used to specify files, but OP requested both directories and files: "I'm trying to rename all my folders and its files so that the first letter is a capital." – paul Jul 26 '23 at 14:56
Right you are! Final question: What is the `-f` doing with `rename`? I didn't find this option documented in the man-page. – user1934428 Jul 29 '23 at 12:03
@user1934428 -f in rename forces the operation despite warnings (specifically `-f/--force or -i/--interactive (proceed or prompt when overwriting) ` when typing `rename -h`), which is useful in this case because rename will stall on identical filenames in different directories without this option – paul Aug 08 '23 at 14:15

Milon Sarker · Answer 2 · 2023-07-25T15:50:11.740

0

For recursive solution find command can be used with rename. With find recursive modification or filteration could be used for specific file/folder type.

Here is the solution I've tested in my WSL Ubuntu:

find . -exec rename -d 's/./\U$&/' {} +

This question is kind of duplicate. Similar question is : Use find command with rename

My solution here is derived/changed from above linked question/solution.

edited Jul 25 '23 at 15:50

answered Jul 25 '23 at 14:35

Milon Sarker

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Capitalize first letter of all subfolders and files with bash

2 Answers2