Renaming multiple files in a directory using Python

Question

I'm trying to rename multiple files in a directory using this Python script:

import os
path = '/Users/myName/Desktop/directory'
files = os.listdir(path)
i = 1

for file in files:
    os.rename(file, str(i)+'.jpg')
    i = i+1

When I run this script, I get the following error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "rename.py", line 7, in <module>
    os.rename(file, str(i)+'.jpg')
OSError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory

Why is that? How can I solve this issue?

Thanks.

Abdication

You have to specify the whole path. – Helvetian

Your files list will contain all the files in given path, but when you do os.rename(), it looks for a file in current working directory. – Helvetian

os.listdir() returns just the filenames and not the full path of the file. Use os.path.join(path, file) to get the full path and rename that. – Greengrocer

For an alternative way using pathlib, see: https://mcmap.net/q/206137/-how-to-rename-files-in-a-folder-using-python-39-s-pathlib-module/2745495 – Cadell

Answer 1

You are not giving the whole path while renaming, do it like this:

import os
path = '/Users/myName/Desktop/directory'
files = os.listdir(path)


for index, file in enumerate(files):
    os.rename(os.path.join(path, file), os.path.join(path, ''.join([str(index), '.jpg'])))

Edit: Thanks to tavo, The first solution would move the file to the current directory, fixed that.

Jilt

Note, that this will also move the file to current directory. To avoid that, do os.rename(os.path.join(path, file), os.path.join(path, str(i)+'.jpg')) instead. – Rimola

Also be careful about join method. Your code returns TypeError: join() takes exactly one argument (2 given)! To avoid that, simply replace the final row of your code by the following one: os.rename(os.path.join(path, file), os.path.join(path, ''.join([str(index), '.jpg']))). – Pennypennyaliner

Thanks @JaroslavBezděk – Jilt

And do think of enumerate as in this answer because otherwise you get a ValueError: too many values to unpack (expected 2) – Audrey

Adding to @JaroslavBezděk ''.join() takes an array as argument to join/concatenate text. – Audrey

I write the simple way os.rename(os.path.join(path, file), os.path.join(path, str(index)+ '.jpg')) as seen here further down – Audrey

Answer 2

import os
from os import path
import shutil

Source_Path = 'E:\Binayak\deep_learning\Datasets\Class_2'
Destination = 'E:\Binayak\deep_learning\Datasets\Class_2_Dest'
#dst_folder = os.mkdir(Destination)


def main():
    for count, filename in enumerate(os.listdir(Source_Path)):
        dst =  "Class_2_" + str(count) + ".jpg"

        # rename all the files
        os.rename(os.path.join(Source_Path, filename),  os.path.join(Destination, dst))


# Driver Code
if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

Preexist

Answer 3

You have to make this path as a current working directory first. simple enough. rest of the code has no errors.

to make it current working directory:

os.chdir(path)

Shayla

Answer 4

As per @daniel's comment, os.listdir() returns just the filenames and not the full path of the file. Use os.path.join(path, file) to get the full path and rename that.

import os
path = 'C:\\Users\\Admin\\Desktop\\Jayesh'
files = os.listdir(path)
for file in files:
   os.rename(os.path.join(path, file), os.path.join(path, 'xyz_' + file + '.csv'))

Referential

Please provide details on how this better solves this question and how it expands on the previous answers. – Exam

Answer 5

Just playing with the accepted answer define the path variable and list:

path = "/Your/path/to/folder/"
files = os.listdir(path)

and then loop over that list:

for index, file in enumerate(files):
    #print (file)
    os.rename(path+file, path +'file_' + str(index)+ '.jpg')

or loop over same way with one line as python list comprehension :

[os.rename(path+file, path +'jog_' + str(index)+ '.jpg')  for index, file in enumerate(files)]

I think the first is more readable, in the second the first part of the loop is just the second part of the list comprehension

Foss

Answer 6

If your files are renaming in random manner then you have to sort the files in the directory first. The given code first sort then rename the files.

import os
import re
path = 'target_folder_directory'
files = os.listdir(path)
files.sort(key=lambda var:[int(x) if x.isdigit() else x for x in re.findall(r'[^0-9]|[0-9]+', var)])
for i, file in enumerate(files):
    os.rename(path + file, path + "{}".format(i)+".jpg")

Nahum

Answer 7

This works for me and by increasing the index by 1 we can number the dataset.

import os  
     
path = '/Users/myName/Desktop/directory'
files = os.listdir(path)
index=1
        
for index, file in enumerate(files):
     os.rename(os.path.join(path, file),os.path.join(path,''.join([str(index),'.jpg'])))
     index = index+1

But if your current image name start with a number this will not work.

Fanciful

Answer 8

I wrote a quick and flexible script for renaming files, if you want a working solution without reinventing the wheel.

It renames files in the current directory by passing replacement functions.

Each function specifies a change you want done to all the matching file names. The code will determine the changes that will be done, and displays the differences it would generate using colors, and asks for confirmation to perform the changes.

You can find the source code here, and place it in the folder of which you want to rename files https://gist.github.com/aljgom/81e8e4ca9584b481523271b8725448b8

It works in pycharm, I haven't tested it in other consoles

The interaction will look something like this, after defining a few replacement functions

when it's running the first one, it would show all the differences from the files matching in the directory, and you can confirm to make the replacements or no, like this

Trigger

thanks works great ! an better usage explanation would help, could move and rename directories with 3 line function and your rename_files.py confirm_and_rename function. – Railway