Comments on: A surprisingly un-awful interface

by: hs

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 20:42:07 +0100

You can download a software for each little task that you want to do. Or, you can use the software that you already have. I really advise using UnxUtils as shown here: http://blog.hardeep.name/computer/20081010/moving-multiple-files/

by: hitmouse

Sat, 23 May 2009 19:53:57 +0100

You can rename files using wildcards in the standard CMD console window.

e.g. ren *.foo *.fo1

if you are dealing with an illegal char, you could simply handle it with the * (even if necessary by moving all other files with the same extension out of that folder)

by: Anthony Hersey

Sat, 23 May 2009 13:10:52 +0100

I use this interface on a semi regular basis:

http://views-help.doc.logrus.com/sites/all/modules/views/help/images/overview-ui-large.png

It's actually quite an improvement over the earlier incarnation of this module.

by: Stark

Sat, 23 May 2009 02:40:45 +0100

Mayhem - quick update for ya. I just tried it (created a file with ? in the name in linux, then booted back to windows), MV failed at the task.... but... REN did it without a hiccup. So, there ya go.

by: Stark

Sat, 23 May 2009 02:17:58 +0100

Mayhem - try this: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=23617&package_id=142775&release_id=322317

That a windows complied version of the GNU core utilities - basically native windows versions of the standard Linux command line tools. Download the CoreUtils-5.3.0.exe and then just use the 'mv' command to rename your pesky "?" file.

*note - I've not tried to actually do this but there is no reason I can see it should not work. "?" itself is not actually an illegal character in the NTFS namespace - only in the Windows file tools and since the GNU file tools are actually NTFS standard compliant it should work.

Alternatively - you could try to access and rename the file from the Windows command line using it's 8.3 format name. See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/101601 for clarification.

by: mayhem

Fri, 22 May 2009 21:33:54 +0100

So does anyone have a good way of removing illegal characters from a filename under windows?
I have several files copied over from a linux system onto ntfs with ? in the filename, but now I've moved countries so can't use the same machine to rename them.

And I really like the idea of a program to pull the album art off amazon, though does it embed the album art in the tag or store it as a separate file?

by: Darien

Fri, 22 May 2009 18:39:10 +0100

All this talk of The Daily WTF makes me wonder if this would make a good contest for them, along the lines of the OMGWTF contest from a few years back. This time: design a monstrosity of an interface that's actually usable and performs a useful function.

by: steveg

Fri, 22 May 2009 14:40:23 +0100

I use this for all my bulk renaming needs: http://tools.tortoisesvn.net/StExBar. It's got the preview thing happening. It's regex enabled, which can be handy if you're into that sort of thing.

by: Bedlam

Fri, 22 May 2009 12:37:57 +0100

While we're evangelising, allow me to recommend Media Monkey. This marvellous app, while probably still too daunting for neophytes and Luddites, sounds like exactly what Dan and Chazzozz needed.

Among its many talents is its ability to rename and organise your files based on ID3 tags. It's similar to MP3tag, but more flexible and with a nicer interface.

I used to have all my MP3s in a flat folder until they became too numerous for that to be effective any more. At the moment, I have them in M:[Album Artist][Album][Track#] [Artist] - [Title]. Media Monkey's Auto Organise feature allows you to structure and restructure your files any way you want.

You can also set it to sync with portable media players and rename and organise the files separately. For instance, on my phone, the files are in a more simple [Genre][Artist] - [Title].

What's that you say? No order and consistency to your ID3 files? Shame on you. Try the Auto Update from Web function, which searches Amazon for your album and allows you to update any or all parts of the ID3 and (joy) download the album art.

Worth checking out for anyone with an undiagnosed Anal File Organisation Disorder.

by: rndmnmbr

Fri, 22 May 2009 10:56:44 +0100

So, would this handy dandy program let me make strange, arbitrary renamings? Like, for example, turn files 1 - 10 of an awesome book series from "SomeAuthor-unintelligiblecrap-variablelengthtitle.pdf" into Author, Some - Awesome Series N of Q - Variable Length Title.pdf"?

Basically, what I need is an option that will whack off everything in a file name up to a demarcation character (usually the last dash) and append what remains to the new file name.

i figure you could do this with regexp, but after a little bit of learning I figured there are Some Things Man Is Not Meant To Know, and gave up.