I have several thousand file names delimited as such:
Last, First-000000-Title-MonYYYY.pdf
Probem 1: Some files conform to the 6-digit convention while others need leading zeroes for consistency.
Problem 2: Some names are entered with dashes (which are, problematically, delimiters) which need to be joined as such: Last-Last, First > LastLast, First
I'm able to perform a simple Rename-Item function for each file but have not been able to create a broader Get-ChildItem function taking into account the several iterations of file names to generate a consistent output.
Apologies for the entry-level question but I cannot seem to coherently draw together the required functions.
Based on your explanations:
Set-Location -Path "C:\path" # replace this with actual path to where the files are
$cFiles = Get-ChildItem -Filter "*.pdf" # Getting all PDFs in the folder
foreach ($oFile in $cFiles) {
$sName = $oFile.Name
# This regex captures 1-5 digits number between two dashes.
$sPattern = '(?:(?<=-))(\d{1,5})(?:(?=-))'
if ($sName -match $sPattern) {
# Extracting number.
[UInt32]$iNumber = $sName -replace (".*" + $sPattern + ".*"), '$1'
# Padding number with zeros.
$sNumber = "{0:D6}" -f $iNumber
# Updating filename string.
$sName = $sName -replace $sPattern, $sNumber
} else {
# This regex captures 6 digits number between two dashes.
$sPattern = '.*-(\d{6})-.*'
# Extracting number.
$sNumber = $sName -replace $sPattern, '$1'
}
# Splitting filename string on 6 digits number.
$cParts = $sName -split $sNumber
# Removing dashes from first/last names and re-assembling filename string.
$sName = ($cParts[0] -replace '-') + '-' + $sNumber + $cParts[1]
Rename-Item -Path $oFile.Name -NewName $sName
}
Tested on the following sample:
Last, First-000000-Title-Jan1900.pdf
One-Two, Three-123-Title-Feb2000.pdf
Four, Five-Six-456-Title-Mar2010.pdf
Seven-Eight, Nine-Ten-7890-Title-Sep2012.pdf
May not work if there are more complicated cases.