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Rename in the Editor

English | 日本語

Rename many files by editing their names in your text editor. You can use everything your editor offers: multi-cursor editing, search and replace, column selection, or typing a full-width space. You can also read long names in full before anything is renamed.

Usage

1. Select the files to rename (or put the cursor on one) and choose File → Rename in Editor… (rename_in_editor).
2. Your editor (TEXT_EDITOR) opens a file listing the names, one per line.
3. Change the names in place, save, and close the editor.
4. XeFM lists every change (old → new). Choose Rename to apply them, Edit Again to go back to the editor, or Cancel.

Lines you leave unchanged are left alone. If the cursor was on a file that got renamed, it stays on that file under its new name.

Rules

• Don’t add, remove or reorder lines. Each line belongs to the file it started with. If the number of lines changes, XeFM refuses and offers Edit Again.
• Swaps work. Changing a.txt to b.txt and b.txt to a.txt swaps the two names, and so does any longer cycle or shift.
• Conflicts are refused, with the line number: an empty name, a name with / or another character file names can’t hold, two lines with the same new name, or a new name already used by a file outside the selection.
• Spaces at the start or end of a line are kept as part of the name.

Editors that open their own window

A GUI editor such as VS Code (without --wait) returns right away, before you have edited anything. In the desktop app XeFM never waits for the editor, with or without --wait, so this is always the case there. XeFM then shows Edit the names in your editor and save the file, then choose Apply. Choose Apply once you’ve saved, or Cancel to drop the rename.

Compared with batch rename

File → Rename… (rename) on a selection opens Batch Rename, which renames with a regular expression and a replacement pattern. Use batch rename when one pattern describes the whole change. Use rename in the editor when the names need individual edits, or when a pattern is hard to write. Both are available. Only AFX style gives rename_in_editor a key (see Keymap Presets); give it one in any preset with KEY_BINDINGS.