Google-apps-script – How to Create Find and Replace Function for Google Drive File Names with Google Scripts

google-apps-scriptgoogle-drive

Basically, I have a bunch of files in a shared google drive, let's say:

AA123_1.jpg
AA123_2.jpg
AA123_3.jpg
…

I am trying to get rid of all of the "123"'s and replace them with an empty space, or just replace "123_" with "_". I am not particularly familiar with google scripts (I do understand basic programming logic though), but yeah, basically I was wondering if anyone knows how I could make a script for this as there is a very large amount of files. Thanks ever so much.

Best Answer

In a given folder of Google Drive, you have a number of jpg images, each with a consistent file name structure ("AA123_y.jpg, where y is a single or multi-digit sequence number).

You want to rename these files to remove the third, fourth and fifth digits ("123").

For example, "AA123_1.jpg" -> "AA_1.jpg"; "AA123_1003.jpg" -> "AA_1003.jpg".

function renamejpgs() {

  /* 
  // A given Goiogle Drive folder contains jpg files.
  // The files have a consistent naming structure:
  // "AA123_y.jpg, where y is a single or multi-digit sequence number.
  //
  // The function renames the files by removing the third, fourth, fifth and sixth characters of the file name and substituting a single"underscore"
  // For example, "AA123_1.jpg" -> "AA_1.jpg"
  */
   
  // set the mime type/file type to be renamed
  var mimetype = 'image/jpeg';
  // get the folder ID; note the id is a string
  var folderid = "<<insert your folder ID>>"
  
  // getFoldersById = Gets a specific folders in the user's Drive
  var folder = DriveApp.getFolderById(folderid)
 
  // get  files in this folder
  // myfiles is a File Iterator
  var myfiles = folder.getFiles();

  // loop through files in this folder
  while (myfiles.hasNext()) { 
  
    var myfile = myfiles.next();   
    var myname = myfile.getName();
    var ftype = myfile.getMimeType();
    // find the next file that matches the mime type
    var indexOfFirst = ftype.indexOf(mimetype);

    if (indexOfFirst != -1){ 
      // the next file was an image
    
      // edit the file name
      var fname = myname.replace("123_", "_");
      // update the file name
      myfile.setName(fname);       
 
    } //end if
  } // end while loop through main folder
  
  return false;
}

Logic

  • getFolderById() is used to identify the specific folder on Google Drive
  • var mimetype = 'image/jpeg'; - this is a user defined variable; in this case the mime type is used to limit the files whose names will be changed to only jpg files.
  • getMimeType(); returns the mime type of a specific file.
  • ftype.indexOf(mimetype ); - a test to see if the file is the given mime type. indexOf returns "-1" if the index is not found, hence the IF statement.
  • var fname = myname.replace("123_", "_"); - uses the Javascript "replace" method to remove the third, fourth and fifth character and sixth characters which is ="123_". The script replaces the underscore because there is possibility of a file named "AA123_123.jpg", in which case the second "123" is not to be replaced.
  • myfile.setName(fname); - updates the file name

Sample - Before

Before

Sample - After

After

Note: the jpg files have been renamed, but the spreadsheet (which has a similar naming pattern) has not been renamed.

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