haven't tried it yet backing up the directory into a tarball that'll take a while. Do you think you could comment it for me? basically programming of any kind is a weak point for me. I'm trying to improve. but copying and pasting someone elses code may fix my issue but it won't fix my understanding. "give a man a fish... teach a man to fish..." sort of thing. <div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div style="direction: ltr;"> <div> On 4/6/06, Bruce Smith <<a href="mailto:blubdog@gmail.com" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">blubdog@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"> Disclaimer, backup the directory first!  :-) And copy/paste exactly! You can test without changing anything by adding an "echo" in front of the "mv" and optionally commenting out the "set" statements for better readability. One bug (feature?) is it will replace multiple spaces with only ONE underscore. You need to run it with the filename(s) as arguments.  i.e.:   /path/to/scriptname *   /path/to/scriptname a*   /path/to/scriptname 'File to Test this  Thing on.TXT' - BS #!/bin/sh infile=upper outfile=lower for f do     if [ -f "$f" ]; then         l="$(echo $f|sed 's/ /_/g'|tr "[:${infile}:]" "[:${outfile}:]")"         if [ "$f" != "$l" ]; then             set -x             mv -i "$f" "$l"             set +x         fi      fi done # end of script On 4/6/06, Caleb Cushing < <a href="mailto:xenoterracide@gmail.com" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">xenoterracide@gmail.com</a>> wrote: > I need/want to change the names of all the files and folders in my /music > directory to where they don't have spaces in them and all the names are in > lowercase. This is what I have so far: > > #!/bin/bash > > ls -R |                          # List directory recursively > sed -e 's/ /_/g' |             # Remove spaces change them to underscore > tr [:upper:] [:lower:] |     #change letters from upper to lower > > that gives me the output of what I would want the directory and file > structure to look like when I'm done. I am unsure however how to take that > output and move the files and directories to acually look like that when I > am finished. It's also the tricky part because if I don't do it right... > well it might be an even bigger pain to fix. I pretty sure I have a lot more > to do to get this workable... and I'm just having problems wrapping my brain > around it. > > snippet:before > #ls -R > > ./3 Doors Down: > Away from the Sun  Seventeen Days  The Better Life   Thumbs.db  desktop.ini > > ./3 Doors Down/Away from the Sun: > 01-When I'm Gone-3 Doors Down-Away from the Sun.mp3 > 02-Away from the Sun-3 Doors Down-Away from the Sun.mp3 > 03-The Road I'm On-3 Doors Down-Away from the Sun.mp3 > 04-Ticket to Heaven-3 Doors Down-Away from the Sun.mp3 > 05-Running Out of Days-3 Doors Down-Away from the Sun.mp3 > 06-Here Without You-3 Doors Down-Away from the Sun.mp3 > 07-I Feel You-3 Doors Down-Away from the Sun.mp3 > 08-Dangerous Game-3 Doors Down-Away from the Sun.mp3 > 09-Changes-3 Doors Down-Away from the Sun.mp3 > 10-Going Down in Flames-3 Doors Down-Away from the Sun.mp3 > 11-Sarah Yellin'-3 Doors Down-Away from the Sun.mp3 > AlbumArtSmall.jpg > AlbumArt_{C212FF41-147D-402C-BAC5-1284F8B4C802}_Large.jpg > AlbumArt_{C212FF41-147D-402C-BAC5-1284F8B4C802}_Small.jpg > Folder.jpg > Thumbs.db > desktop.ini > > snippet:after > > ls -R > > ./3_doors_down: > away_from_the_sun > seventeen_days > the_better_life > thumbs.db > desktop.ini > > ./3_doors_down/away_from_the_sun: > 01-when_i'm_gone-3_doors_down-away_from_the_sun.mp3 > 02-away_from_the_sun-3_doors_down-away_from_the_sun.mp3 > 03-the_road_i'm_on-3_doors_down-away_from_the_sun.mp3 > 04-ticket_to_heaven-3_doors_down-away_from_the_sun.mp3 > 05-running_out_of_days-3_doors_down-away_from_the_sun.mp3 > 06-here_without_you-3_doors_down-away_from_the_sun.mp3 > 07-i_feel_you-3_doors_down-away_from_the_sun.mp3 > 08-dangerous_game-3_doors_down-away_from_the_sun.mp3 > 09-changes-3_doors_down-away_from_the_sun.mp3 > 10-going_down_in_flames-3_doors_down-away_from_the_sun.mp3 > 11-sarah_yellin'-3_doors_down-away_from_the_sun.mp3 > albumartsmall.jpg > albumart_{c212ff41-147d-402c-bac5-1284f8b4c802}_large.jpg > albumart_{c212ff41-147d-402c-bac5-1284f8b4c802}_small.jpg > folder.jpg > thumbs.db > desktop.ini > > _______________________________________________ > linux-user mailing list > <a href="mailto:linux-user@egr.msu.edu" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">linux-user@egr.msu.edu</a> > <a href="http://mailman.egr.msu.edu/mailman/listinfo/linux-user" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"> http://mailman.egr.msu.edu/mailman/listinfo/linux-user</a> > > > </blockquote></div> </div></blockquote></div>