Rename overwrite files with that name?

Hi had a google about and couldn't find an answer to this question (except a dead link) so hope its ok to ask.

Is there a setting or option somewhere by which if Advanced Renamer encounters an existing file with the name another file wants to be renamed to, it will automatically overwrite it?

At the moment if there is an existing file with this new name, I get an error.

This would be very useful for my workflow.

Thanks!

Reply to #1:

Hi Jeremy,

Only Kim Jensen, the author, can answer that question definitively, but my guess is there's no way to directly delete files when there is a potential for name-collision. It's certainly not one of the choices in the Name Collision rule set.

I've made an extensive study of mass-renaming software and I know of no app that will do that. Conscientious software designers are understandably gun-shy about deleting files; liability and support problems would be questionable, and probably legally murky (or worse). And you'd still be facing the possibility of unintended consequences popping up when you least expect it.

I've written scripts that move certain classes of files to a designated folder, from which I delete them later, but to do what you suggest you'd probably have to first load all the filenames into a set of enumerables, like arrays for instance, and examine each in light of whatever changes you would be making later in the program; then move the files that have the original filenames to the "delete-later" folder. It would be a lot of work just to do it for one set of files and the corresponding batch methods, and a colossal amount of work if you wanted to use lots of different batch processes on a lot of different filename sets. You'd have to change the code for each file set to match your proposed changes.

I've tried to think of a way to do it using a collision rule and two batches, but again, short of a fairly complex script I don't see how to do that. Doesn't mean it can't be done; maybe someone else can think of a way.

Anyway, that's all the advice I can give without knowing more about your actual file-naming processes. Maybe Kim will weigh in here; if not you could contact him through the support link.

Best,
DF

Reply to #2:
Thanks - maybe its best I adjust adjust my workflow so I dont need to overwrite on rename, sounds a bit of a headache for everyone involved otherwise :)