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 chores - $old_name.

Answer 1

Option 1: Using Windows PowerShell

Open the windows menu. Type: "PowerShell" and open the 'Windows PowerShell' command window.

Goto folder with desired files: e.g. cd "C:\house chores" Notice: address must incorporate quotes "" if there are spaces involved.

You can use 'dir' to see all the files in the folder. Using '|' will pipeline the output of 'dir' for the command that follows.

Notes: 'dir' is an alias of 'Get-ChildItem'. See: wiki: cmdlets. One can provide further functionality. e.g. 'dir -recurse' outputs all the files, folders and sub-folders.

What if I only want a range of files?

Instead of 'dir |' I can use:

dir | where-object -filterscript {($_.Name -ge 'DSC_20') -and ($_.Name -le 'DSC_31')} |

For batch-renaming with the directory name as a prefix:

dir | Rename-Item -NewName {$_.Directory.Name + " - " + $_.Name}

Option 2: Using Command Prompt

In the folder press shift+right-click : select 'open command-window here'

for %a in (*.*) do ren "%a" "prefix - %a"

If there are a lot of files, it might be good to add an '@echo off' command before this and an 'echo on' command at the end.