This script will rename all files with one extension to another extension. Example: all files in a given directory that end with .php will be renamed to end with .txt.

The only change you might have to make is if you’re on a Linux machine and Perl is not at /usr/bin/perl, but somewhere else, in which case you would need to change the first line to contain the proper path. I’ve not tested this program on a Windows box.

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#!/usr/bin/perl
# Renames file extensions
#
# Syntax:
#     perl extensionChanger.pl --from=FIRST_EXTENSION --to=SECOND_EXTENSION
# Example use:
#      perl extensionChanger.pl --from=html --to=php
# Optional:
#      Specify a directory to work in. Defaults to PWD.
#      --dir=DIRECTORY
# Example use:
#      perl extensionChanger.pl --from=exe --to=pl --dir=tmp
#
# Sarah; 2005-12-18

use Getopt::Long;
GetOptions(
     "from=s" => \$ext1,
     "to=s" => \$ext2,
     "dir=s" => \$dir
);

if ($ext1 eq "" or $ext2 eq "") {
     print "Syntax:\n";
     print "\tperl extensionChanger.pl --from=FIRST_EXTENSION --to=SECOND_EXTENSION\n\n";
     print "Example:\n";
     print "\tperl extensionChanger.pl --from=txt --to=php\n\n";
     print "Optional:\n";
     print "\tSpecify a directory to work in. Defaults to PWD.\n";
     print "\t--dir=DIRECTORY\n\n";
     print "Example:\n";
     print "\tperl extensionChanger.pl --from=exe --to=pl --dir=tmp\n";
     exit;
} else {
     if ($dir eq "") {
          $dir = ".";
     }

     opendir(DIR, $dir) || die "Could not open directory for reading.";

     # Get an array of all files with the old extension that are in the given directory
     @files = grep(/\.$ext1$/, readdir(DIR));

     if ($files[0] eq "") {
          print "There are no files of extension '$ext1' ";
          if ($dir eq ".") {
               print "in PWD";
          } else {
               print "in $dir";
          }
          print ".\n";
     } else {
          # For every file with the old extension in the given directory...
          foreach $file (@files) {
               print "$file ";

               if ($dir ne ".") {
                    print "in $dir/ ";
               }

               # Remove the current extension from the $file variable
               $file =~ s/\.$ext1//g;

               # Rename the file to have the new extension
               $error = `mv $dir/$file.$ext1 $dir/$file.$ext2`;

               print "is now $file.$ext2\n";

               # If there were errors, print them
               if ($error ne "") {
                    print "E: $error\n";
               }
          }
     }
     closedir(DIR);
}