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If the result of the first rename operation still matches the SourceMask then the same file can be renamed twice. When 8.3 filenames exist then the SourceMask will first look for a match against the long file name, and then against the short file name. 8.3 Filename bug - a single command can rename the same file twice! It appears these same rules also work for the target name of the COPY commmand. (Note: a valid Windows file/folder name cannot end with. Matches itself or it can match the end of name (nothing) if no more characters remain. It will match as little or as much as is needed to enable subsequent characters to match.Īll non-wildcard characters must match themselves, with a few special case exceptions. * Matches any 0 or more characters including. However it will match nothing without failure if at name end or if the next character is a. This wildcard is greedy - it always consumes the next character if it is not a. The wildcards work here the same as with any other command that filters file names. The sourceMask works as a filter to determine which files are renamed. TXT in the 'C:\demo\' folder and all sub-folders:įor /R %%G in (*.LOG) do Echo REN "%%G" "%% ~dpnG.TXT" RENAME is a synonym for REN Rename files within subdirectoriesīy default REN with a wildcard will only rename the files in a single folder, to recurse down into sub folders use a FOR /R command, after first changing to the top level directory.Į.g. If you issue a wildcard rename that matches only directories then a syntax error will be thrown. REN can also be used to rename directories, but this behaviour is undocumented.Ī simple REN folderA folderB will work, but wildcard operations are not supported for directories, if you issue a wildcard rename that matches both files and directories, the file(s) will be renamed and the folders will be ignored.
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Instead use " MOVE /y" to rename and replace an existing file.
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REN SourceMask TargetMaskīoth the SourceMask and TargetMask can contain * and/or ? wildcards.Īs described below, the behavior of these wildcards is slightly different for a source or a target mask.
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