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[MarkCoutinho]

In the old days it was quite easy to rename songs in a batch: through 'Find And Replace"
However: that's not possible anymore, as the 'Filename' field can't be chosen within that option.

I found out it should be done now with the 'Rename, Move & Copy Files' option.
But I can't get this next thing done:

- I've got some 300 files that have (1) in the title. Like Abba - Waterloo (1).mp3
- I want to change these filenames to (in this example) Abba - Waterloo.mp3
- when I say: replace (1).mp3 with .mp3 nothing happens.

What's the right procedure to achieve what I want to achieve?

[AndrewFG]

- when I say: replace (1).mp3 with .mp3 nothing happens.

I don't have MC open in front of me to check it, but I guess you could try if this one works: replace *(1).mp3 with *.mp3

[Vincent Kars]

No, F6 (Rename etc) can change any part of a path/filename without using wild cards.

Maybe there are other char in the string Mark wishes to change.
What I do
- in the file panel select the text I want to change e.g. (1).mp3
- F6
- Check Find&Replace at bottom left
- Paste the text to find
- Fill in the replacement
In the column New you will see what the result will be or No Change if it doesn't work

[MarkCoutinho]

Thanks guys for your answers:
@Andrew: that doesn't work at all... :-(

@Vincent: didn't do the trick either. Funny thing is that in the 'New'-column in the Preview, MC says exactly what I want the file to be named to. It doesn't execute it that way, though.

[lawe]

I´ve had problems since the handling of names and Cue files changed.
When the lastest build 20.44 was released I installed it and did a library restore of October backup. I then did a Import and it handled both Cue files and namnes just fine.

I did try that one with earlier builds but my libray got messed up until this release.

If you want to do remaning I recomment Poweshell. I did that for all my Cue-files due to earlier bugs i MediaCenter. The script below renames any .cue to .ufo

get-childItem -recurse | Where {$_.extension -eq ".cue"} | rename-item -newname {  $_.name  -replace ".cue",".ufo"  }

[Arindelle]

@Vincent: didn't do the trick either. Funny thing is that in the 'New'-column in the Preview, MC says exactly what I want the file to be named to. It doesn't execute it that way, though.

What Vincent said works, just tested it. If you see what you want in the preview pane. I'd guess it was either a rights issue or maybe the files or shares are read only if not logged in as administrator?  It could also be that you have too many options checked? It should be Rename in the top left and the Find/replace box checked. The Directories and Filename check boxes should not be "checked" I have replace slashes checked too but this should have any effect

[Vincent Kars]

Mark
If you go to the file in e.g. Win Explorer, do you have the permissions to change its name?
Cause as Aridelle suggested, it might be a rights issue

[MarkCoutinho]

@Vincent and Ardinelle: thanks again for your help.
However: I do have the rights and I do have the right things checked and filled in.
For trial's sake I've done exactly the same thing just changing some letters: Abba - Waterloo.mp3 to Abba - Waterlqq.mp3
And that does what it should do: rename the file to that.
My guess it has something to do with the ( and/or the ) symbol.
Would one of you give it a go with my first example? (using the (1) in the original name)

[mwillems]

One thing worth noting is that window sometimes assigns those "(1)" type terminators when a program tries to place a file in a directory that already contains a file of that name.  So if the directory has a song called "Waterloo.mp3" and a program tries to deposit a track called "Waterloo.mp3" in the same directory, windows will sometimes "do a little magic" and append a (1) to the filename to avoid raising a conflict.  

Have you checked to make sure that the files you're trying to change don't have duplicate names in their directories?  Because attempting to rename "Waterloo(1).mp3" as "Waterloo.mp3" will not work as expected if there's already a "Waterloo.mp3" in the directory.  Sometimes with these kinds of file move operations JRiver pops up a "would you like to replace" type box, but JRiver is not consistent in that respect, and many other programs are not either.  It's possible that MC is trying to rename and windows is just "helpfully" readding the "(1)" to avoid a conflict!

It may not be your issue, but it's probably worth checking on it to rule it out.  

[Vincent Kars]

Don't have JRiver in place at the moment.
I convert a lot of single files/cue to multiple files
JRiver adds a ( and a ) to the files names and I can easily remove them with F6.
If you do 1 at the time e.g. (1, does it work?

A nice one by mwillems, if you use library > locate external, do you see any (1)?

[Arindelle]

+1 to what mwillems said; check this first

My guess it has something to do with the ( and/or the ) symbol.
Would one of you give it a go with my first example? (using the (1) in the original name)

I have a group called 50 Foot Wave => replaced it with (5) so it became (5) Foot Wave including file and pathname.  checked convert slashes
Then I did it in reverse and changed (5) to 50. So it works

I think you can't mix the extension following a period. ... in the waterloo example search "o (1)" and replace with "o" -- this works. But for bulk changes that won't be practical. Don't have time to invent tracks to try it, now. But you'd just search for (1) but replace it with nothing if that makes sense. You can try just leaving the replace box empty of course. However, it might need the asci equivalent for blank,  not sure.

[MarkCoutinho]

It's getting more and more weird... I don't get it.
First of all, MWillems, I checked the one file I'm trying to rename as a trial and the name I want it to have doesn't exist in the directory. So that's not the cause.

I checked the "locate on disk (external)" option: comes up just right

I've tried a workaround, and it goes like this:
- original filename is Abba - Waterloo (1).mp3
- replace 1) with nothing
- this does what it should do and now the file is called Abba - Waterloo (.mp3     (promising, promising....)
- next: replace ( with nothing
- result: filename is back to Abba - Waterloo (1).mp3 !!!

[Arindelle]

try this

Find: (1)
Replace: Alt+ 00  (00 is the AScii string for NULL) so you'd hold the alt ket and type double zero

it should be blank in the box but its actually not empty

[MarkCoutinho]

try this

Find: (1)
Replace: Alt+ 00  (00 is the AScii string for NULL) so you'd hold the alt ket and type double zero

it should be blank in the box but its actually not empty

Doesn't change a thing, Arindelle. When I do Alt+148 the ö comes up (did that for a check), but Alt+00 comes up with the same wrong result (Numeric keypad is used with numlock on).

[MarkCoutinho]

Hold it, guys! Got it!

Problem was:
- I had (again: example) in my Explorer Directory Abba - Waterloo AND Abba - Waterloo (1)
- In the Explorer I removed the first ones (all 300 of them)
- then I wanted to rename the Abba - Waterloo (1) files to the original names
HOWEVER...
- In MC both Abba - Waterloo (1) and Abba - Waterloo were in the library
THEREFOR
- I couldn't rename Abba - Waterloo (1) to Abba - Waterloo because it already existed in MC (and not in the Explorer).

Excuses for my sillyness... I appreciate the work you've done for me however.

Now I go back in the corner shaming myself...

[Arindelle]

  well puzzle SOLVED  make sure you put on the pointy hat!!