How to change date format in file name using bash/linux?

Question

Is there an easy way to change in a linux console the date format in a file name?

Eg. I have a bunch of files which contain a date (DD-MM-YYYY) in the file name like:

example_20-08-2016.pdf

and I want to change it to YYYY-MM-DD:

example_2016-08-20.pdf

I was looking for a bash script I can must apply in the a folder with several files.

wittich · Accepted Answer · 2016-08-20 15:03:58Z

3

With Perl's rename:

rename 's/([0-9]{2})-([0-9]{2})-([0-9]{4})/$3-$2-$1/' *.pdf

See: man rename

wittich

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answered Aug 20, 2016 at 14:23

Cyrus

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1

Thx, that's what I was looking for. I didn't know that it is that easy. I changed the example code a little to make it more general and to apply it on all files which the ending *.pdf.
– wittich
Aug 20, 2016 at 14:56

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