CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythonfilenames
Brian
Brian

Reputation: 83

Python Script to Remove Characters and Replace in Filenames

I have a python script that looks at all the files within a folder for a specific word and replaces that word with a space. Instead of changing the words to look at after each time running the script, I'd like to continue to add new words for the script to look for and perform the same replace action.

I'm running this on macOS El Capitan. Below is the script:

import os

paths = (os.path.join(root, filename)
        for root, _, filenames in os.walk('/Users/Test/Desktop/Test')
        for filename in filenames)

for path in paths:
    # the '#' in the example below will be replaced by the '-' in the filenames in the directory
    newname = path.replace('.File',' ')
    if newname != path:
        os.rename(path, newname)

for path in paths:
    # the '#' in the example below will be replaced by the '-' in the filenames in the directory
    newname = path.replace('Generic',' ')
    if newname != path:
        os.rename(path, newname)

Any help you can provide to this newbie would be appreciated.

Upvotes: 3

Views: 4327

Answers (2)

Davy M
Davy M

Reputation: 1696

Whenever you see yourself using blocks of code again and again with just one change, it's usually best to turn them into functions.

Defining functions is quick and easy in Python. They need to be defined before you use them, so usually they go at the top of the file after the import statements.

The syntax looks like this:

def func_name(paramater1,paramater2...):

Then all the code of the function is indented under the def clause.

I would recommend you put the for path in paths statement and all that was under it as part of the function, and pass in the word you want to search for as a parameter.

Then, after defining the function, you could make a list of all the words you want to replace in the file names, and run the function as so:

word_list = [.File, Generic]
for word in word_list:
    my_function(word)

Upvotes: 1

asongtoruin
asongtoruin

Reputation: 10359

Use a dictionary to track your replacements. You can then loop over its keys and values, like so:

import os

paths = (os.path.join(root, filename)
        for root, _, filenames in os.walk('/Users/Test/Desktop/Test')
        for filename in filenames)

# The keys of the dictionary are the values to replace, each corresponding
# item is the string to replace it with
replacements = {'.File': ' ',
                'Generic': ' '}

for path in paths:
    # Copy the path name to apply changes (if any) to
    newname = path 
    # Loop over the dictionary elements, applying the replacements
    for k, v in replacements.items():
        newname = newname.replace(k, v)
    if newname != path:
        os.rename(path, newname)

This applies all of your replacements in one go, and only renames the files once.

Upvotes: 8

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