I just learned about zmv and I love it. If you already know about zmv or you already love rename, then don’t waste your time reading this.

Sometimes I want to rename a bunch of files in a way that mv can’t handle. Most recently, I had a bunch of files with the same name in numbered directories (Page0/shot.jpg, Page1/shot.jpg, …), and I wanted numbered files instead (shot-0.jpg, shot-1.jpg, …). Plain globbing won’t do it. (If it will and I don’t know how, then please tell me)

If you know about rename, then this might bore you. I never learned about it.

I love “A Better Finder Rename”, which I use on MacOS to rename files in batch. It provides a nice user experience for renaming a batch of files: drag a bunch of files into a basket, apply a bunch of transformations to the filenames and paths, get a preview of the resulting filename, and then press “Rename All” and watch all the renames happen. Very nice. I like the friendly user interface for composing complicated transformations.

Sometimes, however, I have a simpler transformation in mind and I’d like to just use the command line. With zmv, I can do this.

What You Need

For zmv, you need zsh. I installed oh-my-zsh and I love it. I’m slowly discovering more about it. If you don’t use this as your shell, then search the web and set it up. I had the patience for it; therefore, so will you.

Enable zmv

I first tried it from the command line.

$ zmv
[Nope.]
$ autoload zmv
$ zmv
[Usage. Now I can use it!]

Next, I added it to my .zshenv.

# in $HOME/.zshenv
autoload zmv
alias zcp='zmv -C'
alias zln='zmv -L'

Nice! Now, for example, I can try this:

$ zmv -n 'Page(*)/shot.jpg' 'shot-${1}.jpg'
[Tell me which files you'd change, without changing them. Looks good!]
$ zmv 'Page(*)/shot.jpg' 'shot-${1}.jpg'
[Files magically change!]

I love it. You might, too. Enjoy.