Rename multiple files in a folder, add a prefix (Windows)

Question

I\'d like to batch rename files in a folder, prefixing the folder\'s name into the new names. i.e. files in C:\\house chores\\ will all be renamed house chore

Answer 1

Free Software 'Bulk Rename Utility' also works well (and is powerful for advanced tasks also). Download and installation takes a minute.

See screenshots and tutorial on original website.

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I cannot provide step-by-step screenshots as the images will have to be released under Creative Commons License, and I do not own the screenshots of the software.

Disclaimer: I am not associated with the said software/company in any way. I liked the product for my own task, it serves OP's and similar requirements, thus recommending.

Answer 2

I know it's an old question but I learned alot from the various answers but came up with my own solution as a function. This should dynamically add the parent folder as a prefix to all files that matches a certain pattern but only if it does not have that prefix already.

function Add-DirectoryPrefix($pattern) {
    # To debug, replace the Rename-Item with Select-Object
    Get-ChildItem -Path .\* -Filter $pattern -Recurse | 
        Where-Object {$_.Name -notlike ($_.Directory.Name + '*')} | 
        Rename-Item -NewName {$_.Directory.Name + '-' + $_.Name}
        # Select-Object -Property Directory,Name,@{Name = 'NewName'; Expression= {$_.Directory.Name + '-' + $_.Name}}
}

https://gist.github.com/kmpm/4f94e46e569ae0a4e688581231fa9e00