microsoft/PowerToys

[PowerRename] Bulk regex rename needs to include folders

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#1,391 opened on Feb 27, 2020

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Help WantedIdea-EnhancementProduct-PowerRename

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Description

I read that this utility would allow renaming multiple files with regular expressions. There was a checkbox to exclude folders, so I thought if I unchecked that it would include folders. Apparently my expectation of "include folders" doesn't match how the utility works.

I have a lot of files in the form:

  • 2019\02\05\foo.html
  • 2020\04\03\bar.html

I want to rename them to the form:

  • @2019-02-05-foo.html
  • @2020-04-03-bar.html

I figured I would match some regex (\d\d\d\d)\\(\d\d)\\(\d\d)\\(.+)\.html and rename that to @$1-$2-$3-$4.html. It seemed straightforward to me. Looks like the utility can't handle it, though; apparently it only looks at the filename.

You might make this shortcoming explicit in the documentation.

Contributor guide

Research direction
Investigate PowerRename's file iteration code and modify it to include the full relative path in the regex matching, while respecting the 'include folders' toggle.
Tech stack
csharp
Domain
desktop
Issue type
Feature
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
Half day
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
Active
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
Clear
Prerequisites
C#Git
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
40