rename files with python - regex

Question

I am wanting to rename 1k files using python. they are all in the format somejunkDATE.doc

basically, I would like to delete all the junk, and only leave the date. I am unsure how to match this for all files in a directory.

thanks

We can't help if we know nothing about how DATE is formatted. — JoshD
– JoshD, Commented Oct 21, 2010 at 0:11
Is the junk always the same, or is it different for each file? Also, what format is the date in? — kindall
– kindall, Commented Oct 21, 2010 at 0:11
the 'junk' also contains every type of character, symbol, etc, random lengths, rather lengthy — bernard
– bernard, Commented Oct 21, 2010 at 0:20

ghostdog74 · Accepted Answer · 2010-10-21 00:24:56Z

7

If your date format is the same throughout, just use slicing

>>> file="someJunk20101022.doc"
>>> file[-12:]
'20101022.doc'
>>> import os
>>> os.rename(file, file[-12:]

If you want to check if the numbers are valid dates, pass file[-12:-3] to time or datetime module to check.

Say your files are all in a directory (no sub directories)

import os
import glob
import datetime,time #as required
os.chdir("/mypath")
for files in glob.glob("*.doc"):
    newfilename = files[-12:]
    # here to check date if desired
    try:
       os.rename(files,newfilename)
    except OSError,e:
       print e
    else: print "ok"

answered Oct 21, 2010 at 0:24

ghostdog74

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