bulk rename files

brn is a command line tool similar to vimv. It can be used to easily mass-rename files in your preferred text editor (i.e. vim).

Usage

When called from inside a directory, it opens a buffer in your default text editor with the list of filenames. You can then edit the filenames in the buffer and the changes will take place when you save and exit.

By default it uses $EDITOR and if that is not set then $VISUAL.

Install

Arch Linux Users

You can use the brn-git aur package

paru -S brn-git

Everyone else

Clone the repo and

sudo make install

Why use brn over something like vimv?

• It can handle swapping names. It uses GNU/Linux's renameat2 system call to atomically swap the names of two files which means no temporary files are made either (yes, this also means you can't compile it on other Unixes).

• It is written in C instead of bash which makes its behavior more robust and predictable.

• It has error handling, it will safely abort if the exact number of filenames isn't provided or if some filenames are repeated.

• It is free.

Screencast

TODO

• Make an AUR package.

• Version sort directory listing so initial buffer is similar to output of ls -Av.

• Add an example GIF

License

brn is licensed under the GNU AFFERO GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE.