Bash command to remove leading zeros from all file names

bash sed file-rename
George picture George · Jan 15, 2010 · Viewed 12k times · Source

I have a directory with a bunch of files with names like:

001234.jpg
001235.jpg
004729342.jpg

I want to remove the leading zeros from all file names, so I'd be left with:

1234.jpg
1235.jpg
4729342.jpg

I've been trying different configurations of sed, but I can't find the proper syntax. Is there an easy way to list all files in the directory, pipe it through sed, and either move or copy them to the new file name without the leading zeros?

Answer

Simon Nickerson picture Simon Nickerson · Jan 15, 2010

sed by itself is the wrong tool for this: you need to use some shell scripting as well.

Check Rename multiple files with Linux page for some ideas. One of the ideas suggested is to use the rename perl script:

rename 's/^0*//' *.jpg

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