Rename multiple files based on pattern in Unix

Question

There are multiple files in a directory that begin with prefix fgh, for example:

fghfilea
fghfileb
fghfilec

I want to rename a

Answer 1

A generic script to run a sed expression on a list of files (combines the sed solution with the rename solution):

#!/bin/sh

e=$1
shift

for f in $*; do
    fNew=$(echo "$f" | sed "$e")
    mv "$f" "$fNew";
done

Invoke by passing the script a sed expression, and then any list of files, just like a version of rename:

script.sh 's/^fgh/jkl/' fgh*