Common way for rename a mispelled file is to use mv but many dudes will first write the curent name then the new name (ie. mv old_file new_file). Stop ! Use the wildcards ! :-)
Most used wildcard is the asterix “*” (match all characters) but other usefull wildcards exist like the question mark “?” that match for a single character. In some case, as a large directories, that’s avoid you to use a grep on your ls command and give you a more concise listing.
# Question Mark Wildcard “?”
nicolas@grimm:~$ ls
pic1.jpg pic1.txt pic2.jpg pic3.jpg pic4.jpg pic5.jpg pic-big.jpg pic.jpg pic-small.jpg pic.txt pic1.txt pic2.txt pic1.bmp
nicolas@grimm:~$ ls pic?.jpgpic1.jpg pic2.jpg pic3.jpg pic4.jpg pic5.jpg
Other usefful wildcard will be square brackets “[]” and curly brackets “{}“. First let you match a range of values, second let you define a list of values.
# Square Brackets Wildcard “[]“
nicolas@grimm:~$ ls pic[ 1-3].jpg
pic1.jpg pic2.jpg pic3.jpg
# Curly Brackets Wildcard “{}”
nicolas@grimm:~$ ls pic1.{txt,jpg,bmp}
pic1.txt pic1.jpg pic1.bmp
You can use those wildcards simultanously for a better search.
nicolas@grimm:~$ ls pic[1-3].{txt,jpg}
pic1.jpg pic1.txt pic2.jpg pic3.jpg
We have seen how to perform our ls search but you can also use those bash wildcards in any of your bash commands !
nicolas@grimm:~$ mv a_too_{short,long}_file_name_with_lot_of_ch4r4ct3r3.txt
will result in renaming the file a_too_short_file_name_with_lot_of_ch4r4ct3r3.txt to a_too_long_file_name_with_lot_of_ch4r4ct3r3.txt
nicolas@grimm:~$ cp pic[1-3].jpg dest
will result in copying pic1.jpg, pic2.jpg and pic3.jpg into the directory dest
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