In a folder I have several files with the following name-structure (I write just three examples):
F_001_4837_blabla1.doc
F_045_8987_blabla2.doc
F_168_9092_blabla3.doc
What I would do is to use a BASH command to rename all the files in my folder by deleting the first underscore and the series of zeros before the first number code obtaining:
F1_4837_blabla1.doc
F45_8987_blabla2.doc
F168_9092_blabla3.doc
shopt -s extglob
for f in *; do
echo "$f: ${f/_*(0)/}"
# mv "$f" "${f/_*(0)/}" # for the actual rename
done
F_001_4837_blabla1.doc: F1_4837_blabla1.doc
F_045_8987_blabla2.doc: F45_8987_blabla2.doc
F_168_9092_blabla3.doc: F168_9092_blabla3.doc
Parameter expansion can be used to replace the content of a variable. In this case, we replace the pattern _*(0) with nothing.
${parameter/pattern/string}
Pattern substitution. The pattern is expanded to produce a pat-
tern just as in pathname expansion. Parameter is expanded and
the longest match of pattern against its value is replaced with
string. If pattern begins with /, all matches of pattern are
replaced with string. Normally only the first match is
replaced. If pattern begins with #, it must match at the begin-
ning of the expanded value of parameter. If pattern begins with
%, it must match at the end of the expanded value of parameter.
If string is null, matches of pattern are deleted and the / fol-
lowing pattern may be omitted. If parameter is @ or *, the sub-
stitution operation is applied to each positional parameter in
turn, and the expansion is the resultant list. If parameter is
an array variable subscripted with @ or *, the substitution
operation is applied to each member of the array in turn, and
the expansion is the resultant list.
Extended pattern matching allows us to use the pattern *(0) to match zero or more 0 characters. It needs to be enabled using the extglob setting.
If the extglob shell option is enabled using the shopt builtin, several
extended pattern matching operators are recognized. In the following
description, a pattern-list is a list of one or more patterns separated
by a |. Composite patterns may be formed using one or more of the fol-
lowing sub-patterns:
?(pattern-list)
Matches zero or one occurrence of the given patterns
*(pattern-list)
Matches zero or more occurrences of the given patterns
+(pattern-list)
Matches one or more occurrences of the given patterns
@(pattern-list)
Matches one of the given patterns
!(pattern-list)
Matches anything except one of the given patterns