QCMD(1)

General Commands Manual

QCMD(1)

NAME
qmv, qcp - Rename or copy files quickly, editing the file names in a text
editor
SYNOPSIS
qcp [OPTION]... [FILE]...
qmv [OPTION]... [FILE]...
qcmd --command=COMMAND [OPTION]... [FILE]...
DESCRIPTION
This manual page document describes the qcp, qmv and qcmd commands.
The qmv program allows files to be renamed by editing their names in any
text editor. By changing a letter in a text document, a
letter in a filename can be changed. Since the files are listed after eac
h other, common changes can be made more quickly.
The qcp program works like qmv, but copies files instead of moving them.
The qmv program was built with safety in mind - bogus renames caused by h
uman error are avoided by performing as many checks as
possible. Because of this, qmv supports an interactive mode where eac
h step in the rename procedure can be executed manually.
The default is to start qmv in non-interactive mode. However, when there
is a conflict or error, qmv will drop to interactive
mode (instead of losing all user-made changes). For more information
on the renaming process and interactive mode, see below.
This also applies to qcp.
The qcmd program works just like qmv and qcp but allows you to specify wh
ich command to execute.
The ls(1) program is used to list files to rename or copy. Therefore qmv,
qcp, and qcmd accepts some ls options.
RENAMING/COPYING PROCESS
The process of renaming or copying files consists of many steps. They are
:
List files
Generate a list files to rename from command-line arguments by usi
ng ls(1).
Create an editable text file
The edit format creates an editable text file with the file names.
Start the editor
Start the text editor and wait until the user has finished editing
it.
Read the edited text file
The edit format reads the edited text file now with updated file n
ames.

Check rename and reorder to resolve conflicts (qmv only)

This is a complicated step which involves the following tasks:
Tag renames where the destination file already exists, renames whe
re the old file is now missing or inaccessible, and
renames renames where the new name was not changed. Perform a to
pologic sort on the renames, so that renaming b->c, a->b
is possible. Resolve cross references by renaming into temporary
names, so that renaming e->f, f->e (or e->f, f->g, g->e
and so on) is possible.
This step results in a plan of renames.
Display the plan.
Display the plan to the user.
Apply the plan.
Apply the plan by actually renaming or copying files (unless --dum
my was specified).
If an error occurs during any of the above steps (except the first), qm
v/qcp drops the user into the interactive mode. This way
no changes should be lost, and errors can be corrected manually before co
ntinuing. See below for a description of the interac
tive mode.
OPTIONS
These programs follow the usual GNU command line syntax, with long option
s starting with two dashes (`-').
-a, --all
(Passed to ls.) Do not hide entries starting with `.'.
-A, --almost-all
(Passed to ls.) Do not list implied `.' and `..'.
-B, --ignore-backups
(Passed to ls.) Do not list implied entries ending with `~'.
-c

(Passed to ls.) Sort by ctime (time of last modification).

--command=COMMAND
Execute COMMAND instead of mv or cp.
-d, --directory
(Passed to ls.) List directory entires instead of contents.
-r, --reverse
(Passed to ls.) Reverse order while sorting.
-R, --recursive
(Passed to ls.) List subdirectories recursively.
-S

(Passed to ls.) Sort by file size.

--sort=WORD
(Passed to ls.) Sort by extension (-X), none (-U), size (-S), time
(-t), version (-v), status (-c), time (-t), atime (-u),
or access (-u).

--time=WORD
(Passed to ls.) If sorting is done by time (--sort=time), sort by
atime, access, use, ctime or status time.
-t

(Passed to ls.) Sort by modification time.

-u

(Passed to ls.) Sort by access time.

-U

(Passed to ls.) Do not sort; list entries in directory order.

-X

(Passed to ls.) Sort alphabetically by entry extension.

-f, --format=FORMAT
Change edit format of text file. See below for possible values.
-o, --options=OPTIONS
Pass options to the selected edit format. OPTIONS is in the format
OPTION[=VALUE][,OPTION[=VALUE]...]
For a list of available options for each format, use --options=hel
p or see below.
-i, --interactive
Start in command mode (see below for information on this mode).
-e, --editor=PROGRAM
Specify program to edit text file with. The default program is det
ermined by looking at the VISUAL environment variable,
or if that is not set, the EDITOR environment variable. If that is
not set either, use the program called editor.
--ls=PROGRAM
Specify path of the ls program. If you omit the directory, the e
xecutable will be searched for in the directories speci
fied by the PATH environment variable.
-v, --verbose
Be more verbose about what is being done.
--dummy
Do everything as usually, except actually renaming any files ("dum
my" mode).
--help Show summary of options.
--version
Output version information and exit.
EDIT FORMATS
An edit format is responsible for generating a text file for editing, and
parsing it once it has been edited. The default format
is dual-column, but there are other formats as well.
Not all edit formats take the same options. Therefore, it is necessa
ry to specify them using the --options (-o) option. This
option takes a list of "suboptions" similar to the -o option in mount(8).
Available edit formats are `single-column' (or `sc'), `dual-column' (or `

dc'), and `destination-only' (or `do'). The default for

mat is dual-column.
DUAL-COLUMN FORMAT
The dual-column format (`dual-column' or `dc') displays files in two c
olumns. This is the default and recommended format. The
leftmost column is usually the source file name (which should not be edit
ed), and the rightmost column the destination file name.
Supported options:
swap Swap location of old and new names when editing. I.e. the leftmost
column is now the destination file name, and the right
most the source file name.
separate
Put a blank line between all renames.
tabsize=SIZE
By default, tab characters of size 8 are used to separate the colu
mns. With this option the width of these tab characters
can be changed.
spaces Use space characters instead of tab characters when indenting.
width=WIDTH
This option specifies the character position (horizontally) which
the second file name starts at.
autowidth
Normally, if the source file name is longer than width characters,
the destination name is printed on the next line
instead. With this option enabled however, qmv/qcp will adjust th
e width so that source and destination file names can be
displayed on one line.
If a width has been specified with width prior to autowidth, that
width will be used as a minimum width.
Example: Assume that width=10,autowidth is specified. Even if all
source file names are shorter than five characters, the
split width would be 10. If there had been one file name longer
than 10 characters, the final width would have been more
than 10 characters.
This option is enabled by default.
indicator1=TEXT
Text to put before the first file name (column).
indicator2=TEXT
Text to put before the second file name (column).
help

Show summary of edit format options.

SINGLE-COLUMN FORMAT
The single-column format (`single-column' or `sc') displays files in a si
ngle column - first source file name and on the next
line the destination file name.

Supported options:
swap Swap location of old and new names when editing. I.e. the first l
ine will contain the destination file name, and the next
line the source file name.
separate
Put a blank line between all renames.
indicator1=TEXT
Text to put before the first file name.
indicator2=TEXT
Text to put before the second file name.
help

Show summary of edit format options.

DESTINATION-ONLY FORMAT
The destination-only format (`destination-only' or `do') displays files o
nly the destination file name, one on each line. This
format is generally not recommended, since the only way to identify sourc
e file name is by looking at the line number. But it may
be useful with some text editors.
Supported options:
separate
Put a blank line between all renames (file names).
INTERACTIVE MODE
In interactive mode qmv/qcp reads commands from the keyboard, parses them
, and executes them. This is done using GNU readline.
The following commands are available:
ls, list [OPTIONS].. [FILES]..
Select files to rename. If no files are specified, select all file
s in current directory. The accepted options are those
which are passed to ls(1). Use `help ls' to display a list of thes
e.
import FILE
Read files to rename from a text file. Each line should correspond
to an existing file to rename.
ed, edit
Edit renames in a text editor. If this command has been run be
fore, and not `all' is specified, only edit renames with
errors.
plan

Display the current rename-plan. (This plan is created after `edit

'.)
apply Apply the current plan, i.e. rename files. Only those files marked
as OK in the plan will be renamed.
retry If some rename failed earlier during `apply', this command will tr
y those renames again.
show

Display the value of the specified configuration variable, or all

variables if none specified. See below for a list of

configuration variables.
set VARIABLE VALUE
Set the value of a configuration variable.
exit, quit
Exit the program. If there are unapplied changes, the user will b
e notified so, and it will be necessary to run this com
mand an extra time to exit the program.
help [ls|usage]
If `ls' is specified, display list options. If `usage' is specifie
d, display accepted command line options. Otherwise dis
play help on commands in interactive mode.
version
Display version information.
VARIABLES
The following variables are available in interactive mode:
dummy BOOLEAN
editor STRING
format STRING
options STRING
These variables corresponds to the options with the same name.
tempfile STRING
This variable contains the name of the temporary file which is
edited with `edit'. It cannot be set; only be read with
`show'.
A boolean value is specified as `0', `false', `no', `off' or `1', `true',
`yes', and `on'. Strings are specified without quotes.
EXAMPLES
Edit names of files in current directory.
qmv
Edit names of files with extension `.c'. Sort files by modification time.
qmv -t *.c
Edit names of files using the nedit editor and with column width 100.
qmv -enedit -owidth=100
REPORTING BUGS
Report bugs to <oskar@osk.mine.nu>.
AUTHOR
The author of renameutils and this manual page is Oskar Liljeblad <oskar@
osk.mine.nu>.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2011 Oskar Liljeblad
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is N

O warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR

A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

qcmd (renameutils)

December 4, 2007
QCMD(1)