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

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

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

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
Copper Contributor
Aug 23, 2022

My folder structure.

I wanted to clean up the folder names
- Harm_Veenstra
  MVP
  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 }
  - Dan_CS
    Copper Contributor
    Aug 23, 2022
    
    Hi Harm_Veenstra
    
    This powershell is very exhausting - I try to avoid using it for this exact reason, its not for simple folks.
    
    But I had 5000 files and bulk rename utility takes so long to use so I thought powershell.
    What I learned from this
    
    1. Open powershell as Administrator > to avoid Access denied on some folders
    2. It doesn’t like special characters like @, #
    
    I will try to figure out how to replace whitespace, it doesnt like replacing whitepsace like this ? " " , ""
    
    Again thank you for your help and you are a STAR!
    
    Have a great day 🙂
    Dan

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