Linux – How to remove invalid characters from filenames

bashlinux

I have files with invalid characters like these

009_-_�%86ndringshåndtering.html

It is a Æ where something have gone wrong in the filename.

Is there a way to just remove all invalid characters?

or could tr be used somehow?

echo "009_-_�%86ndringshåndtering.html" | tr ???

Best Answer

One way would be with sed:

mv 'file' $(echo 'file' | sed -e 's/[^A-Za-z0-9._-]/_/g')

Replace file with your filename, of course. This will replace anything that isn't a letter, number, period, underscore, or dash with an underscore. You can add or remove characters to keep as you like, and/or change the replacement character to anything else, or nothing at all.

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