Rename Multiple Folder into Single Folder

Hi, is it possible to merge Multiple Folders into a single folder? Mine has errors.


Example:

FolderA >> FolderZ
FolderB >> FolderZ
FolderC >> FolderZ

Thank you.

Reply to #1:
By Folder merge do you mean copy the contents of FolderA, FolderB and FolderC into FolderZ?
If so, you can use the Copy o Move mode.
For avoid mistakes with files with the same name be sure to add the "Append Number" in the options.
As you can see in the image some files have the same name and are corrected in the destination folder with the append number.

https://i.ibb.co/YQQF4jT/Captura-16-03-2024-53s. png

Miguel

Reply to #2:

Thanks but it is good only for a few folders and only 1 destination. I tried this to rename hundreds of folders using replace method and it is not applicable.

Ex:

FolderZ
FolderZ-A
FolderZ-B
FolderZ-C
FolderX
FolderX-A
FolderX-B
FolderX-C

Method Replace using Regex:
Text To Replace: -[A-Z]$

This produces an error.

Hi Joy,

I'm still not clear on what you are trying to do, or for that matter what exactly you are working on. Are your folders really named "FolderX-A", "FolderZ-A", "FolderX-B"...? If they are not that regular then we'd need more information as to the actual construction of the filenames.

If they are indeed named with that naming scheme (that is, all folder names the same length, one superflous letter preceded by a dash at the end of the folder name), then it wouldn't be that hard a transformation, but will take some extra steps.

I'd use the Windows File Explorer to search for each base foldername you want to create: Search for the base name of each folder, i.e., all the folders that contain "FolderZ". Windows will show you all the files that are in folders that are named FolderZ<whatever>. Drag the FILES, not the folders, into Aren and then do a move or copy to a new folder named "..\FolderZ". You'll either need to set Name Collision Rule on the menu to add a number or whatever to differentiate files, OR you could add the folder name they came from, that would be an alternate way to avoid collisions. I might do something like:

Add: <foldername:1>_
At: 1
(Tick the backwards checkbox if you want to add it to the end of the filename; no regex required).

You could add a method that removes the "Folder" part of the new filename, if space is an issue; unless you have multiple folders with the same ending scheme it would still avoid collisions.

You'll have to do that for each Folder_ that you want to create, but it would be faster than doing it by hand. Short of writing jscript code I don't off the top of my head visualize another way to do that.

EDIT: I realized it might be easier just to set up a pre-processing script and remove the unneeded part of the folder names before running the Batch move script. Then you'd just have to drag the contiguous folders to work on and specify files in the folders, rather than waiting for windows search ( if you have hundreds of folders). Another option, anyway. END EDIT

Hope this helps, good luck. If you want to clarify your problem we might be able to help more.

Best,
DF

Reply to #4:

OK, Joy, I've generalized this to work on any folders that end with <Letter><dash><Letter>. Assuming the path plus filename + parent foldername don't add up to more than 260 characters, in which case you'd have to either move the working directory closer to the drive letter or fix the first batch to truncate the folder or filename.

First try it on a sample that you've copied to a test directory. It goes like this:
Append the parent folder name to each filename in Batch rename mode.

Drag target folders to Aren, select "Add the files in the folders".
Add a REPLACE method:
Replace: (.*)
With: $1_<dirname:1>
Case sensitive: NO
Regular expressions: YES
Apply to: Name
[Run that on all the files in the target folders].

Deactivate that one replace method (all we're doing now is copying/moving the files); reload the files, just like in step one, but with the folder names now appended.

Set batch mode to either MOVE or COPY. I suggest copy, at least on a test run, until you understand exactly what's going on.

In the "Output folder:" field, enter "..\Folder<RSubstr:3:1>" (without the quotes, of course–and again, assuming the files end with something like "M-C". Obviously you can replace "Folder" with whatever you might want).

Click "Start batch" and, if everything is Jake, you've got your files all in folders named with that first crucial letter of the folder name.

If you want you can now do a batch to take out the foldername, or part of it, from the filenames. Just remember you'll need something to avoid name collisions if there are files that had the same name before the first batch replace.

It was a piece of cake once I realized that I had to run the first replace separate from the copy/move operation. Before that I was getting some really strange results (I'm guessing Aren must copy/move the files before it actually runs that replace method to add the foldername. Weird.).

Anyway, hope this helps. I don't think you can do this even in jscript on Aren - but some smart person here in the forum will probably prove me wrong. I'd love to see that, actually, so... Anyone?

Best,
DF

Reply to #4:

Thank again but will think it over if it produce the same result. For clarification, here is the screenshot of I am trying to accomplish.


https://imgur.com/dLyBwGc

Reply to #6:

Joy,
That link gives me an error "over capacity." Doesn't matter, though. That should work for you according to your specs. Good luck!

DF

Reply to #7:


Sorry about the link. Here is the google drive link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1a7S-H7h8cTNqkA- 18-iX0mMrJ6LOnp09/view?usp=sharing


Maybe there are clever ways to accomplish this.

Thanks.

Something weird is going on with the forum; can't leave a long reply. Starting new thread if I can.

EDIT: Turns out the forum won't let me post in a new thread either...? What the heck!?

See if this works. Here's a link to a text file with solution:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1X8m-HmpIFrUOhL3 QlUFBkzYohYWD6_fl/view?usp=sharing

Reply to #9:

It works for me... very clever indeed. Thanks. I will be using that method for now until the developer adds a feature to ignore folder duplication and instead rename the file contents.

Adding dirname to filename is a nice idea!

Reply to #11:

Thanks Styb! Coming from you, that means a lot.

DF