How to mass rename files in ruby

Question

I have been trying to work out a file rename program based on ruby, as a programming exercise for myself (I am aware of rename under linux, but I want to learn Ruby, and rename

Answer 1

Your problem is that gets returns a newline at the end of the string. So, if you type "foo" then searchPattern becomes "foo\n". The simplest fix is:

searchPattern = gets.chomp

---

I might rewrite your code slightly:

$stdout.sync
print "Enter the file search query: "; search  = gets.chomp
print "Enter the target to replace: "; target  = gets.chomp
print "  Enter the new target name: "; replace = gets.chomp
Dir['*'].each do |file|
  # Skip directories
  next unless File.file?(file)
  old_name = File.basename(file,'.*')
  if old_name.include?(search)
    # Are you sure you want gsub here, and not sub?
    # Don't use `old_name` here, it doesn't have the extension
    new_name = File.basename(file).gsub(target,replace)
    File.rename( file, new_path )
    puts "Renamed #{file} to #{new_name}" if $DEBUG
  end
end