Renaming multiple folder using command line

Question

I am trying to rename multiple folders at once, removing the first few characters of their name:

I found resource around but none of the command that I have tried worked:

2 - AT5CRO5JUDBWD4RUPXSQ
4 - LH4FVU3TQDEC87YGN6FL
12 - A878KB79QDIBFOTWB0T8
28 - 5UB5KFD2PK38Z4LS6W80

to

AT5CRO5JUDBWD4RUPXSQ
LH4FVU3TQDEC87YGN6FL
A878KB79QDIBFOTWB0T8
5UB5KFD2PK38Z4LS6W80

Once in the folder I tried:

rename "????*" "////*"
rename "....*" "////*"
ren "????*" "////*"
ren "....*" "////*"
rename "....*" "????*"
rename "????*" "????*"

Everytime I get a syntax error or that it doesn't match. I really don't understand. Does anyone have a solution ?

Regards,

Answer 1

What can and will help in many commands would be to familiarizing yourself with:

---

For
For /r 
For /d
Set 
Set string manipulation (substrings)
For loop expanding variables

---

• Using a Forloop you can expand your variable:

    %~i   - expands %i removing any surrounding quotes (")
    %~fi  - expands %i to a fully qualified path file/dir name only
    %~ni  - expands %i to a file/dir name only
    %~xi  - expands %i to a file/dir extension only
    
    %%~nxi => expands %%~i to a file/dir name and extension

• Use the FOR variable syntax replacement:
      %~pI        - expands %I to a path only
      %~nI        - expands %I to a file name only
      %~xI        - expands %I to a file extension only

• The modifiers can be combined to get compound results:
      %~pnI       - expands %I to a path and file name only
      %~pnxI      - expands %I to a path, file name and extension only

Obs.: About using %%~x in directory name observation note in ss64.com:

• Full Stop Bug
  Although Win32 will not recognise any file or directory name that begins or ends 
     with a '.' (period/full stop) it is possible to include a Full Stop in the middle
     of a directory name and this can cause issues with FOR /D.

• Parameter expansion will treat a Full Stop as a file extension, so for a directory
  name like "Sample 2.6.4" the output of %%~nI will be truncated to "Sample 2.6" to
  return the whole folder name use %%I or %%~nxI

---

---

You can do this using a for /d loop and set to remove everything that comes before (and together) the *-[space]:

With for /d all directories will be listed in the loop, and their source names will be in %~nxi, which can be used in the ren command syntax.

For target name, use !_dir:*- =!, it will remove everything (*) that comes before - , and already defining the destination name by expanding in same line the !_dir! variable without unwanted characters using cmd.exe /v:on /c

For what you have been trying, a use of for /d loop and substring set in ren syntaxes would be resolved by:

for /d %i in (*)do cmd.exe /v:on /c "set "_dir=%~nxi" && move "%~nxi" "!_dir:*- =!""

rem :: or, smaller with the same results...

for /d %i in (*)do cmd/v/c"set "_dir=%~nxi"&&move "%~nxi" "!_dir:*- =!""

---

• Some further reading:

  [√] Set

  [√] CMD /?

  [√] For Loop

  [√] For /D Loop

  [√] For /R Loop

  [√] Conditional Execution || && ...

  [√] DelayedExpansion (Refer: cmd /v /c)

  [√] Substring in Set command (Refer: !_dir:*- =!)

---

---

Obs.: For do the same in powershell:

Get-ChildItem -Directory | Rename-Item -NewName {$_.Name -Replace '.* ',''}

# or, smaller with the same results...
gci -ad | ren -New {$_.Name -Replace '.* ',''}

Answer 2

Try this in powershell:

Get-ChildItem "Filepath" | Foreach {
  $name = $_.Name.ToString().Split("-")[1].Trim()
  Rename-Item -Path $_.Fullname -NewName $name
}

Answer 3

PowerShell: VErbose:

Get-ChildItem -Directory | Rename-Item -NewName { $_.Name.Split(' ')[-1] }

KeyBanger:

gci -ad | ren -New { $_.Name.Split(' ')[-1] }