MetaMove

MetaMove is written in Python3 and aims at easing batch renaming operations based on file meta data.

MetaMove abuses eval combined with f-strings. It’s some sort of wrapper, that handles file operations and requires a Python3 format string generate new file names.

python3 metamove.py --type f --dry --name "test/**" "test1/{name}-{int(stat.st_mtime)}.{ext}"

Usage

usage: metamove.py [-h] [-R] [--type {f,d}] [--name NAME] [--dry] [--regex REGEX] pattern

positional arguments:
  pattern          destination directory with Python f-string for renaming operations, e.g. "test1/{name}-{int(stat.st_mtime)}.{ext}"

optional arguments:
  -h, --help       show this help message and exit
  -R, --recursive  Activating this switch will traverse recursively through subdirectories.
  --type {f,d}     "f" for file or "d" for directory, defaults to both
  --name NAME      glob that will match on files, similar to "find -name *.txt"
  --dry            do not actually do anything but showing the result
  --regex REGEX    regex to extract filename parts, can be accessed in the 'pattern' using the 'regex' array

Curly braces

You can use any expression that Python3 allows inside f-string curly braces

A few examples to get you started:

• name — Filename without extension
• ext — File extension without leading dot
• mime — File mime type
• stat information like
  • stat.st_atime — Last access date
  • stat.st_mtime — Last modification date
  • stat.st_ctime — Last inode modification date
  • and others: https://pathlib.readthedocs.io/en/0.5/
• IDv3 tags like
  • mp3.tag.artist — IDv3 artist tag
  • mp3.tag.title — IDv3 title tag
  • mp3.tag.album — IDv3 album tag
  • and many more: https://github.com/nicfit/eyeD3
• file name parts if --regex is set:
  • regex[0] — first match
  • regex[1] — second match
  • and many more depending on your regex and number of matches

Examples

Dry move all files from folder test to test1 and rename them accordingly.

python3 metamove.py --type f --dry --name "test/**" "test1/{name}-{int(stat.st_mtime)}.{ext}"

Result:

test/file_example_MP3_1MG.mp3 -> test1/file_example_MP3_1MG-1640635451.mp3
test/test1.txt -> test1/test1-1640635453.txt
test/test2.dir -> test1/test2-1640635456.dir

Dry move mp3 files from folder test to test1, sort them by mp3.tag.artist into folders and use mp3.tag.title as filename.

python3 metamove.py --type f --dry --name "**/*.mp3" "test1/{mp3.tag.artist}/{mp3.tag.title}.{ext}"

Result:

./metamove.py --type f --dry --name "**/*.mp3" "test1/{mp3.tag.artist}/{mp3.tag.title}.{ext}"
test/file_example_MP3_1MG.mp3 -> test1/Kevin MacLeod/Impact Moderato.mp3

Dry move files from test to test1 and strip away the non-alphabetic characters from the filename.

python3 metamove.py --type f --dry --name "test/**" --regex "[A-Za-z]*" "test1/{regex[0]}.{ext}"

Result:

test/file_example_MP3_1MG.mp3 -> test1/file.mp3
test/test1.txt -> test1/test.txt
test/test2.dir -> test1/test.dir

What works

• Globbing the files was kinda hard to figure out and may not be perfect.
• Renaming mp3 files based on IDv3 meta data works.
• Renaming other files based on stat meta data is also fine.
• Using regex expressions to access parts of the filename.
• Dry runs also work and are recommended before actually performing the action.

Wishlist

• Plugins (e.g. exif, geographics, time formatting)

Try it out

Dependencies can be installed via

pip install -r requirements.txt

or

make init