Free/Open source solution to rename file by editing file names list as plain text (Like TotalCommander)?

Question

What I Need

I want to find a free/open source solution to replace the Editing names function of TotalCommander's Multi-rename Tool (under the file menu).

What is this Editing names?

Let me explain how the Editing names works if you never used TotalCommander (TC) before:

1. TC lets you selected multiple files and directories from different path. I'll select one folder and one file for example.

   • C:\Windows\fosl\
   • D:\App\App.exe

2. When those object are selected, you can choose Multi-rename Tool (or press Ctrl-M) to open the mass renaming dialogue. There's the Editing Names button. When you press it, a temporary text file is opened (by any editor you selected). The content looks like this for our example:

   fosl
   App.exe
   

3. So there are only file/folder names, you can edit it using whatever editor you like, then save the file.

4. After you done editing, head back to TC, press OK then TC will load edited file names as renaming target. Then you can just hit the Start button to finish the renaming.

What's the difference between the Multi-rename Tool and normal Export/Import function of regular renaming tools?

1. Exported files need to be saved, then import, it's a waste of time and it's annoying. Beside you need to delete the file after renaming, everytime.

2. Exported files looks like this (for our example above):

   C:\Windows\fosl\
   D:\App\App.exe
   

   or this: (csv format)

   C:\Windows\fosl\, C:\Windows\fosl\
   D:\App\App.exe, D:\App\App.exe
   

So it is YOU need to handle the full path, take care that you don't mess up the path or it won't work, it's too tedious. It also limited your editing, you can't do something like replace all "App" to "NotApp" for example, because you'll ruin the path D:\App

While Editing Names only exposes file names so that you can handle the renaming gracefully, TC will handle the rest.

Notes:

• TC is not free.
• I prefer GUI editing with drag-n-drop supporting, just like TC (instead of Cygwin + find or Python + repren).

Answer 1

Double Commander is a free, cross-platform Total Commander clone (or aims to be, I am not cure it is a 100% copy - yet).

Double Commander is a cross platform open source file manager with two panels side by side. It is inspired by Total Commander and features some new ideas.

Here are some key features of Double Commander: - Unicode support
- All operations working in background
- Multi-rename tool
- Tabbed interface
- Custom columns
- Internal text editor (F4) with syntax hightlighting
- Built in file viewer (F3) to view files of in hex, binary or text format
- Archives are handled like subdirectories. You can easily copy files to and from archives. Supported archive types: ZIP, TAR GZ, TGZ, LZMA and also BZ2, RPM, CPIO, DEB, RAR.
- Extended search function with full text search in any files
- Configurable button bar to start external programs or internal menu commands
- Total Commander WCX, WDX and WLX plug-ins support
- File operations logging
- And more...

On the Windows Screen Shot page you will see this
which certainly looks like the TC multi-rename tool.

Now that I have given you your answer, here's a plea - please consider purchasing Total Commander (if you can afford the $42, which I admit, does seem a little pricey for a home user).

This was the first piece of shareware which I ever purchased, shortly after its launch (way back in 1993 !). I have never regretted it and have purchased quite a lot of shareware since, although I tend to look for free alternatives to the larger programs, which cost hundreds of dollars.

Maybe it's because I am a coder myself, then I don't like to think of poor Christian Ghisler starving in his garret (I am not quite sure what a garret is, but apparently people, mainly artists, starve in them).

The license is for a lifetime and when I have emailed Christian seeking support he has always been very quick and detailed in his response.

Whatever you decide - happy renaming :-)