Our great and wondrous benefactor, Cyo, mentioned that he'd like extra content from users to help other users, and I initially thought I didn't have anything to offer, but just realized I did - so, here goes (Cyo, feel free to copy or edit this wherever if you think it's helpful - and apologies in advance if everyone already knew this, feel free to delete if so).
How to Rename/Reorder Multiple Files -
Problem:
1. You've got a hundred files all named in this format:
(1938-03) Grey Terror #1.rar (or zip)
It would take hours to rename each file to .cbr, plus when you import into ComicRack you'll get a title listing as \"1938\" instead of the real title.
Solution:
Go to
www.den4b.com/ and download and install Renamer.
- Run it, select the files you want to rename, and pick \"Add Rule\"
- in the Add Rule menu select Search/Replace (make sure 'extension' is checked or it will ignore extensions) and then tell it replace zip with cbz (or rar/cbr).
Ok, that was really easy, but you've still got a weirdly named file right? Your file is named:
(1938-03) Grey Terror #1.cbr
. . .and you want it to be named like this for when you put it in your ComicRack folder:
Grey Terror #1 (1938-03).
So, in ReNamer, add your files again, go back and create a new rule, and in the rules box select RegEx on the left. This stands for \"Regular Expression\" and probably means something to programmers. Me, I know only enough to be a danger to myself.
In the \"Expression\" box, type exactly this (there's a space between each one):
(.*) (.*) (.*) (.*)
and in the \"Replace\" box type this:
$2 $3 $4 $1
Notice there are four 'elements' to the file we're using (1=(1938-03), 2=Grey, 3=Terror, 4=#1, and so for four elements we used four of these: (.*)
Preview your files then hit \"Rename\" - it took me about a half second to rename 100 files! The first time I did this I almost cried because of all time I had wasted using the manual method.
Why/How does it work?
You're telling it (for our example)
(1938-03) Grey Terror #1.cbr equals:
$1= (1938-03)
$2= Grey
$3= Terror
$4= #1
. .then telling it to switch the order of those variables around to 2341.
Remember to count each 'element' of your file name and use the number of these doohickeys accordingly = (.*) Four is just an example.
Also note that with this method you can rename all your 3 element files, and then 4 element, then 5, but not all at the same time (unless someone smarter than me comes up with a nifty if/or statement)
Also remember that if you've already imported your file into ComicRack that none of this will work - fooling with the file name probably won't affect the Title, because the Title has been 'set' by ComicRack.