Can power shell help me rename a bunch of folders.
I need to compare a notepad document in each folder
to a spreadsheet of names with new ids
then
rename the folder with the new ids
some folders do not have a notepad document and I would prefer to skip
over 5000 folders… really do not wanna do via hand
The short answer is yes. But you really need to explain what you mean by “I need to compare a notepad document in each folder to a spreadsheet of names with new ids”.
I have a list of folders incrementing from 1-5000
What I have -> What I require
001-----------------> 41A
002-----------------> 41B (example if first/last was James/Smith)
…
Some folders contain a data text file with values
FirstName=John
LastName=Smith
With other random information
The SpreadSheet or .cvs file has
41A,John Smith
42B,James Smith
…
Each folder contains information
so I would prefer to rename the parent folder that the Data file resides
Each Data File in each folder has the same name and extension.
I need to suck out the names from the Data file per folder
Compare with the CVS file
Rename the Parent folder
Is that data file consistently named in every folder, and if so, what is its name? And what are the field names in your CSV file?
Assumption for the code example: Your rename CSV file looks something like this …
ID,Name 41A,John Smith 42B,James Smith 45C,Bob McCoy
Assumption for the code example: Your data file sprinkled throughout the directories is called data.ini.
Given those assumptions, as well as standard caveats (like rename the paths to match your directory structure), this should work. And of course, remove the -WhatIf switch when you are confident the script is doing what you want, nothing more, nothing less.
# set the pattern for looking at the data fields
$pattern = [regex]"^(?'item'First|Last)=(?'data'.+$)"
# set the root and the pattern for the file search
$dirs = Get-ChildItem -Directory -Path C:\Ephemeral\????
# build lookup table
$list = Import-Csv -Path C:\Ephemeral\renamelist.csv
$lookup = $list | Group-Object -AsHashTable -AsString -Property Name
# start looking through the directories
foreach ($dir in $dirs)
{
$dataPath = Join-Path -Path $dir -ChildPath PData.dat
# did we find the data file?
if (Test-Path -Path $dataPath)
{
Write-Verbose "Found a data file at $dataPath"
# read the data file
$data = Get-Content -Path $dataPath
# look at each line for the fields of interest
foreach ($line in $data)
{
if ($line -match $pattern)
{
Set-Variable -Name $Matches['item'] -Value $Matches['data']
}
} # end of looking at all the lines in a file
# lookup the ID matching the name
try
{
$newName = ($lookup[$("$first $last")]).ID
Write-Verbose "$first | $last | $newname"
# reanme the directory
Rename-Item -Path $dir -NewName $newName -WhatIf
}
catch
{
Write-Error -Message "An error occured for $($dir.FullName)"
}
}
}
I really appreciate the response!
The data file remains same PData.Dat (reads in notepad fine)
My CVS I have narrowed down to 2 columns that simply start with entries
ID , Name
I can add Code,Name at the beginning if that will help
I am curious where do we take
FirstName=John
LastName=Smith
and combine them to make Name. so I can compare the full name to the csv
Also This is ancient Egyptian to me
set the pattern for looking at the data fields
$pattern = [regex]“^(?First|Last)=(?.+$)”
I will test this code in the next 48 hours, I have some life to take care of.
Thanks a lot for the input, it looks very promising.
I have edited the code above to take into account the data file name of PData.dat and to change the column heading in the CSV file to ID and Name.
The “Egyptian bit” is a regular expression or RegEx. It also changed in the edit as the site text editor did not like the brackets for the named captures. Basically the RegEx defined here as $pattern is what is used by the -match operator to look for the “First” and “Last” keywords in your data file. Whenever I find the “First” or “Last” keyword, I use the set-variable command to set $first or $last to whatever data I found on the other side of the “=”.
Early on in the script I built a lookup table based on the data in the CSV file. I built it in such a way as to key it off the Name field. So later when I have the first and last names from the PData.dat file, I put them together with a space in between, and use that as the key to the lookup table which returns the corresponding ID to the $newName variable. Once I have the new name, renaming the directory is simple.
By the way, regular expressions have been around for years (long before PowerShell) and they have their own language of sorts (it’s cryptic on a good day). They are supported on many platforms and in many languages and utilities. PowerShell and RegEx is an unbeatable combination for text manipulation. You by no means need RegEx for every PS script. I used it here because (from my viewpoint) it made it easy to extract the “First” and “Last” data items.
Another reminder – this script will not rename anything until you remove the -WhatIf switch from the Rename-Item line.
PS C:> $data = Get-Content -Path $dataPath
Get-Content : Cannot find path ‘C:04\PData.dat’ because it does not exist.
At line:1 char:17
-
$data = Get-Content -Path $dataPath -
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (C:04\PData.dat:String) [Get-Content], ItemNotFoundException
- FullyQualifiedErrorId : PathNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetContentCommand
PS C:>
The file does exists in the folder
>
I think I am very close.
Set-Variable : Cannot bind argument to parameter ‘Name’ because it is null.
At line:5 char:47
-
Set-Variable -Name $Matches['item'] -Value $Matches[' ... -
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- CategoryInfo : InvalidData: (
[Set-Variable], ParameterBindingValidationException - FullyQualifiedErrorId : ParameterArgumentValidationErrorNullNotAllowed,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.SetVariableCommand
- CategoryInfo : InvalidData: (
I am unsure what I am missing here
Here is my Pdata.Dat
[PatData]
InternalID=1111
ID=000
IsActive=1
IsPatient=1
IsRP=0
Title=
FirstName=cob
MidName=
LastName=Smith
Name=
Sex=
BirthDate=
I think this line I am having issues with
$newName = ($lookup[$(“$first $last”)]).ID
This is my full code sofar
$pattern = [regex]“^(?'item’First|Last)=(?‘data’.+$)”
$dirs = Get-ChildItem -Directory -Path C:\Data
$list = Import-Csv -Path C:\Data\Name.csv
$lookup = $list | Group-Object -AsHashTable -AsString -Property Name
Write-host $pattern
foreach ($dir in $dirs){
$dataPath = Join-Path -Path $dir -ChildPath PData.dat
# did we find the data file?
if (Test-Path -Path $dataPath)
{
Write-host "Found a data file at $dataPath"
# read the data file
$data = Get-Content -Path "C:\Data\$dataPath"
# look at each line for the fields of interest
foreach($line in $data)
{
if ($line -match $pattern)
{
Set-Variable -Name $Matches['item'] -Value $Matches['data']
}
}
}
# end of looking at all the lines in a file
# lookup the ID matching the name
try
{
$newName = ($lookup[$("$first $last")]).ID
Write-host "$first | $last | $newname"
# reanme the directory
Rename-Item -Path $dir -NewName $newName
}
catch
{
Write-Error -Message "An error occured for $($dir.FullName)"
}
}
Your .DAT file has “FirstName=” and Bob’s regex pattern is looking for “First=”, so you need to update that pattern to search the correct names in your file:
$pattern = [regex]"^(?'item'FirstName|LastName)=(?'data'.+$)"
Rob is right. I missed the ‘Name’ portion of the data label.