<![CDATA[Create REN Batch File?]]>How can I automatically convert a list of filenames (in a text file) to reverse the filename based on a dash?

My file has (hundreds) of filenames listed … (I can easily remove the .epub extension before conversion, and add it back after the list is “fixed”.)

This would be the starting file contents …

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Moby Dick - Herman Melville
A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

This would be the converted file contents …

REN "Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen" "Jane Austen - Pride and Prejudice"
REN "Moby Dick - Herman Melville" "Herman Melville - Moby Dick"
REN "A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens" "Charles Dickens - A Tale of Two Cities"
]]>https://community.notepad-plus-plus.org/topic/19587/create-ren-batch-fileRSS for NodeFri, 10 Apr 2026 16:05:56 GMTSun, 21 Jun 2020 05:20:36 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to Create REN Batch File? on Sun, 21 Jun 2020 19:28:18 GMT]]>@guy038 This is awesome! Thank you so much! It worked perfectly.

]]>https://community.notepad-plus-plus.org/post/55246https://community.notepad-plus-plus.org/post/55246Sun, 21 Jun 2020 19:28:18 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Create REN Batch File? on Sun, 21 Jun 2020 13:15:06 GMT]]>Hello, @ron-ball and All,

Really easy with regular expressions !

So , assuming a simple list of filenames, with any extension, like below :

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen.epub
Moby Dick - Herman Melville.epub
A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens.epub

  • Open the Replace dialog ( Ctrl + H )

  • SEARCH (?-s)^(.+)(\x20-\x20)(.+)(\..+)

  • REPLACE ren "$0" "\3\2\1\4"

  • Tick the Wrap around option

  • Select the Regular expression search mode

  • Click, once, on the Replace all button

You should get the expected result :

ren "Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen.epub" "Jane Austen - Pride and Prejudice.epub"
ren "Moby Dick - Herman Melville.epub" "Herman Melville - Moby Dick.epub"
ren "A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens.epub" "Charles Dickens - A Tale of Two Cities.epub"

Voila ;-))

Best Regards,

guy038

]]>https://community.notepad-plus-plus.org/post/55233https://community.notepad-plus-plus.org/post/55233Sun, 21 Jun 2020 13:15:06 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Create REN Batch File? on Sun, 21 Jun 2020 11:59:35 GMT]]>@Ron-Ball said in Create REN Batch File?:

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Moby Dick - Herman Melville
A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

From the given example you would build three groups like
find:(.+)( - )(.+)
and
replace: REN "$1$2$3" "$3$2$1"

Hopefully your data is exactly as posted.

]]>https://community.notepad-plus-plus.org/post/55231https://community.notepad-plus-plus.org/post/55231Sun, 21 Jun 2020 11:59:35 GMT