old<\/I> from the file extension of all the files in a folder. You know, a script like this one:<\/P>strComputer = “.”<\/p>\nSet objWMIService = GetObject(“winmgmts:\\\\” & strComputer & “\\root\\cimv2”)<\/p>\n
Set colFiles = objWMIService.ExecQuery _\n (“ASSOCIATORS OF {Win32_Directory.Name=’C:\\Test’} Where ” _\n & “ResultClass = CIM_DataFile”)<\/p>\n
For Each objFile In colFiles\n strExtension = objFile.Extension \n strExtension = Replace(strExtension, “old”, “”)\n strNewName = objFile.Drive & objFile.Path & objFile.FileName & “.” & strExtension\n errResult = objFile.Rename(strNewName)\nNext\n<\/PRE>\n
Explain how the script works? No, we can\u2019t do that this time around; after all, we do<\/I> have a plane to catch. Sorry.<\/P>\n
Oh; right. The Scripting Editor has \u2026 helpfully \u2026 reminded us that this is the morning of Friday, June 1st<\/SUP> and the Scripting Guy who writes this column doesn\u2019t actually leave until 10:50 PM on Sunday, June 3rd<\/SUP>. So, what the heck; let\u2019s explain how this script works. <\/P>\nTo begin with, we connect to the WMI service on the local computer. And yes, this script will<\/I> work just as well against a remote computer; all you have to do is assign the name of that remote machine to the variable strComputer. For example:<\/P>strComputer = “atl-fs-01”\n<\/PRE>\nAfter making the connection we then use an Associators Of<\/B> query to return a collection of all the files (all instances of the CIM_DataFile<\/B> class) found in the folder C:\\Test:<\/P>Set colFiles = objWMIService.ExecQuery _\n (“ASSOCIATORS OF {Win32_Directory.Name=’C:\\Test’} Where ” _\n & “ResultClass = CIM_DataFile”)\n<\/PRE>\nAnd yes, that\u2019s definitely an odd-looking line of code. For now, however, don\u2019t worry too much about it. Just replace C:\\Test<\/I> with the name of your<\/I> folder and everything will be fine.<\/P>\n
Our next step is to set up a For Each loop to loop through all the items in the collection (that is, through all the items in the folder). The first thing we do in this loop is grab the existing file extension (stored in the Extension<\/B> property) and assign that value to a variable named strExtension:<\/P>strExtension = objFile.Extension\n<\/PRE>\nIn WMI, the file extension does not<\/I> include the period; that means that if our first file is named Filename.oldexe, then the variable strExtension will be equal to this: oldexe<\/I>.<\/P>\n
That\u2019s fine, except we want to get rid of the word old<\/I>. How do we do that? Like this:<\/P>strExtension = Replace(strExtension, “old”, “”)\n<\/PRE>\nAll we\u2019re doing here is calling the Replace<\/B> function and replacing old<\/I> with nothing (\u201c\u201d). Guess what that makes strExtension equal to now? As always, you\u2019re way ahead of us:<\/P>exe\n<\/PRE>\nNow that we\u2019ve recovered the original file extension it\u2019s time to rename the file. When you rename a file using WMI you must pass the entire file path as the new file name; in other words, we have to say C:\\Test\\Filename.exe<\/B> and not just Filename.exe<\/B>. Because of that, our next line of code builds the complete file path for us:<\/P>strNewName = objFile.Drive & objFile.Path & objFile.FileName & “.” & strExtension\n<\/PRE>\nWhat we\u2019re doing here is using selected properties of the original file as well as our new file extension in order to construct the new file path. The Drive<\/B> property, as you might expect, returns the drive where the file is stored. Thus:<\/P>C:\n<\/PRE>\nThe Path<\/B> property is a kind of oddball-little property that returns folder information minus<\/I> the drive letter and the file name. In other words, if the path is C:\\Test\\Filename.exe then the Path property is equal to \\Test\\<\/B>. Combined with the Drive property, that gives us a path (so far) equal to this:<\/P>C:\\Test\\\n<\/PRE>\nNext up is the FileName<\/B> property, which is the name of the file minus<\/I> the file extension (and, of course, minus the dot between the name and the extension). Thus:<\/P>C:\\Test\\Filename\n<\/PRE>\nAnd then last but surely not least, we tack on the dot and the file extension (the new and improved file extension, which is stored in the variable strExtension). That\u2019s going to give us a brand-new file path:<\/P>
C:\\Test\\Filename.exe\n<\/PRE>\nThe minute we have the new file path we can then call the Rename<\/B> method and rename the file:<\/P>errResult = objFile.Rename(strNewName)\n<\/PRE>\nFrom there we loop around and repeat the process with the next file in the collection.<\/P>\n
So remember, if you\u2019re going to be in Orlando June 4 through June 8 be sure and stop by the convention center and say hi to the Scripting Guys. You might as well; after all, what else is there to do in a place like Orlando? To tell you the truth, we can\u2019t imagine you\u2019d be able to find anything in Orlando that compares to the excitement of meeting the Scripting Guys.<\/P>\n
What\u2019s that? Watching the grass grow? Well, OK, we\u2019ll have to give you that one. Watching paint dry? Well, we\u2019ll give you that one, too. Watching \u2013 OK, we get the idea. But come by and say hi anyway. After all, saying hi to the Scripting Guys is<\/I> better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. <\/P>\n
Granted, not much<\/I> better. But better.<\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hey, Scripting Guy! We backed up a whole bunch of files in a folder; when these files were backed up the word “old” was inserted as part of the file extension (e.g., Filename.exe became Filename.oldexe). How can I restore these files to their original names and extensions?— RP Hey, RP. Today is Friday, June 1st, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":595,"featured_media":87096,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[38,11,3,12,5],"class_list":["post-64743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-scripting","tag-files","tag-folders","tag-scripting-guy","tag-storage","tag-vbscript"],"acf":[],"blog_post_summary":"
Hey, Scripting Guy! We backed up a whole bunch of files in a folder; when these files were backed up the word “old” was inserted as part of the file extension (e.g., Filename.exe became Filename.oldexe). How can I restore these files to their original names and extensions?— RP Hey, RP. Today is Friday, June 1st, […]<\/p>\n","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/595"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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