rename command for replacing text in filename from a certain point (character), but only up to, and maintaining the file extension

Question

I've got a ton of files as follows

audiofile_drums_1-ktpcwybsh5c.wav
soundsample_drums_2-fghlkjy57sa.wav
noise_snippet_guitar_5-mxjtgqta3o1.wav
louder_flute_9-mdlsiqpfj6c.wav

I want to remove everything between and including the "-" and the .wav file extension, to be left with

audiofile_drums_1.wav
soundsample_drums_2.wav
noise_snippet_guitar_5.wav
louder_flute_9.wav

I've tried to do delete everything following and including the character "-" using

rename 's/-.*//' *

Which gives me

audiofile_drums_1
soundsample_drums_2
noise_snippet_guitar_5
louder_flute_9

And for lack of finding an easy way to rename all the files again, adding .wav the extension, I am hoping there is a slicker way to do this in one nifty command in one stage instead of 2.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Answer 1

This works in my specific case, but should work for any file extension.

rename -n 's/-.*(?=\.wav$)//' *

The command looks for all characters after and inclusive of the - symbol in the filename, then, using a positive lookahead** (?=\.wav$) to search for the characters (the file extension in this case) at the end of the filename (denoted by $, and replaces them with no characters (removing them).

** NOTE: A positive look ahead is a zero width assertion. It will affect the match but it will not be included in the replacement. (The '.wav' part will not be erased)

In this example (?=\.wav$) is the positive lookahead. The dollar sign $, as in regex, denotes at the end of the line, so perfect for a file extension.