How to insert an underscore into a file name - UNIX

Question

I'm using HP UX and I have 1000 files that are all 10 characters long and are all numbers.

I would like to put an underscore in the file name after the 4th number to make an 11 digit file name.

i.e 1234567890 to 1234_567890.

What would be the best way to do this ?

I haven't really attempted much as I don't know the best way to tackle it and have very limited unix rename knowledge.

score 0 · Accepted Answer · 2023-03-08 08:12:35Z

0

I usually do something along these lines with bash:

find . -type f | while read f
do 
    mv "$f" "${f:0:4}_${f:4}"
done

edited Mar 8, 2023 at 8:12

answered Mar 8, 2023 at 8:07

user9706

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Comments

Alon Alush · Accepted Answer · 2023-03-08 08:15:00Z

0

You can use the sed command

find . -type f -name "??????????" | while read f
do
    mv "$f" "$(echo $f | sed 's/^\(....\)/\1_/')"
done

edited Mar 8, 2023 at 8:15

answered Mar 8, 2023 at 8:06

Alon Alush

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2 Comments

user9706 Over a year ago

Is that a standard HP-UX tool? On linux it's an optional Perl extension.

Steve M Over a year ago

Hi, this seems to work. I then had to change it as we also have 14 character number files so changed to mv "$f" "$(echo $f | sed 's/^(......)/\1_/')".

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