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Dan_CS's avatar
Dan_CS
Copper Contributor
Aug 23, 2022
Solved

Powershell Clean up Folder Names - Rename Folders and Subfolders Recursively

    Hi friends,   I hope I have posted this in the correct forum.   I am trying to rename folders and subfolders.   I am cleaning up the folders names first removing junk spaces and things I ...
Windows PowerShell
  • Harm_Veenstra's avatar
    Harm_Veenstra
    Aug 23, 2022

    Dan_CS It's the special characters, if you replace @ with at for example, it does work for me

     

    $Source_Folder = 'd:\temp\Test'
$folders = Get-ChildItem -LiteralPath $Source_Folder -Directory 
Foreach ($folder in $folders) {  
    $new_folder_name = $folder.Name
    
    # Remove Characters
    $new_folder_name = $new_folder_name -replace '#', ' '
 
    # Remove Hyphen with _
    $new_folder_name = $new_folder_name -replace '-', '_'

    # Remove @ with at
    $new_folder_name = $new_folder_name -replace '@', 'at'
	
    # and some more replacements......

    Write-Host "Renaming:" $folder.FullName "to" $new_folder_name
    Rename-Item "$($folder.FullName)" "$($new_folder_name)" -Verbose
}
Harm_Veenstra's avatar
Harm_Veenstra
MVP
Aug 23, 2022

Dan_CS I changed it a little for you, the target path shouldn't be in full name, just the directory name

 

$Source_Folder = 'd:\temp\Test'
$folders = Get-ChildItem -Directory -Recurse $Source_Folder
Foreach ($folder in $folders) {  
    $new_folder_name = $folder.Name
    
    # Remove Characters
    $new_folder_name = $new_folder_name -replace '#', ' '
 
    # Remove Hyphen with _
    $new_folder_name = $new_folder_name -replace '-', '_'
	
    # and some more replacements......

    Write-Host "Renaming:" $folder.FullName "to" $new_folder_name
    Rename-Item "$($folder.FullName)" "$($new_folder_name)"
}
Dan_CS's avatar
Dan_CS
Copper Contributor
Aug 23, 2022

Harm_Veenstra 

 


Hello Harm,

thank you for your help.

It did rename some folders but some I get errors like below

 

Rename-Item : Source and destination path must be different.
At C:\Users\Dan\Desktop\FORUM Folder.ps1:44 char:5
+ Rename-Item $($folder.FullName) $($new_folder_name)


Also another error folder does not exist.

 

I will keep trying and testing

 

Thank you

 

  • Harm_Veenstra's avatar
    Harm_Veenstra
    MVP
    Aug 23, 2022
    Ok, but what is the source en destination at that moment? What's the output from line 14? (Write-Host "Renaming"...
    • Dan_CS's avatar
      Dan_CS
      Copper Contributor
      Aug 23, 2022
      I wanted to rename the folders exactly where they are originally

      ===================================================
      PS C:\Users\Dan\Desktop> C:\Users\Dan\Desktop\FORUM Folder.ps1
      Renaming: C:\Users\Dan\Desktop\1\1 - #Test to 1 _ Test
      Renaming: C:\Users\Dan\Desktop\1\2 - Content to 2 _ Content
      Renaming: C:\Users\Dan\Desktop\1\3 - Test to 3 _ Test
      Renaming: C:\Users\Dan\Desktop\1\2 - Content\2.1 - # Test to 2.1 _ Test
      Rename-Item : Cannot rename because item at 'C:\Users\Dan\Desktop\1\2 - Content\2.1 - # Test' does not exist.
      At C:\Users\Dan\Desktop\FORUM Folder.ps1:41 char:5
      + Rename-Item "$($folder.FullName)" "$($new_folder_name)"
      + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      + CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation: (:) [Rename-Item], PSInvalidOperationException
      + FullyQualifiedErrorId : InvalidOperation,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.RenameItemCommand

      Renaming: C:\Users\Dan\Desktop\1\2 - Content\2.1 - # Test\2.2 @ # Test to 2.2 Test
      Rename-Item : Cannot rename because item at 'C:\Users\Dan\Desktop\1\2 - Content\2.1 - # Test\2.2 @ # Test' does not exist.
      At C:\Users\Dan\Desktop\FORUM Folder.ps1:41 char:5
      + Rename-Item "$($folder.FullName)" "$($new_folder_name)"
      + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      + CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation: (:) [Rename-Item], PSInvalidOperationException
      + FullyQualifiedErrorId : InvalidOperation,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.RenameItemCommand

      Renaming: C:\Users\Dan\Desktop\1\3 - Test\3.1 - @ to 3.1 _
      Rename-Item : Cannot rename because item at 'C:\Users\Dan\Desktop\1\3 - Test\3.1 - @' does not exist.
      At C:\Users\Dan\Desktop\FORUM Folder.ps1:41 char:5
      + Rename-Item "$($folder.FullName)" "$($new_folder_name)"
      + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      + CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation: (:) [Rename-Item], PSInvalidOperationException
      + FullyQualifiedErrorId : InvalidOperation,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.RenameItemCommand

      Renaming: C:\Users\Dan\Desktop\1\3 - Test\3.2 - # @ to 3.2 _
      Rename-Item : Cannot rename because item at 'C:\Users\Dan\Desktop\1\3 - Test\3.2 - # @' does not exist.
      At C:\Users\Dan\Desktop\FORUM Folder.ps1:41 char:5
      + Rename-Item "$($folder.FullName)" "$($new_folder_name)"
      + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      + CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation: (:) [Rename-Item], PSInvalidOperationException
      + FullyQualifiedErrorId : InvalidOperation,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.RenameItemCommand

      Renaming: C:\Users\Dan\Desktop\1\3 - Test\3.1 - @\2.2 @ # Test to 2.2 Test
      Rename-Item : Cannot rename because item at 'C:\Users\Dan\Desktop\1\3 - Test\3.1 - @\2.2 @ # Test' does not exist.
      At C:\Users\Dan\Desktop\FORUM Folder.ps1:41 char:5
      + Rename-Item "$($folder.FullName)" "$($new_folder_name)"
      + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      + CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation: (:) [Rename-Item], PSInvalidOperationException
      + FullyQualifiedErrorId : InvalidOperation,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.RenameItemCommand

      ========================================

      sorry for the ugly error messages but this is what it says
      • Dan_CS's avatar
        Dan_CS
        Copper Contributor
        Aug 23, 2022

         

        My folder structure.

         

        I wanted to clean up the folder names

         

         

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