How to rename multiple folders in batch

Question

I have several folders with the following pattern as name:

123 - 1234 - string1 - string2

and would like to rename them all like

string1 - string2

using a batch file.

I was searching for something like:

@echo off
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion

for /D %%f in (C:\Users\*) do (
    set string=%%f
    for /f "tokens=1,2,3,4 delims=-" %%a in (%%f) do (set part1=%%a)&(set part2=%%b)&(set part3=%%c)&(set part4=%%d)
    set newstring=part3 - part4
    rename "string" "newstring"
)

Unfortunately it isn't working and I've no idea what's wrong... Do you have better ideas?

Answer 1

You must enclose the variable names in exclamation points to cause them to be expanded, as in !part3!. This must be done every place you want the value of a variable. The exclamation points are used for delayed expansion within a FOR loop. You can use percents for normal expansion, but not within a loop that also sets the value.

Also, your inner FOR /F loop must use double quotes within the IN() clause. As currently written, it is attempting to open a file with the name of your folder.

But there is a simpler way in your case:

@echo off
for /d %%F in (c:\users\*-*-*-*) do for /f "tokens=2* delims=-" %%A in ("%%~nxF") do ren "%%F" "%%B"