F2

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How Variables Work ​

F2 supports the use of variables in replacement strings, allowing you to dynamically insert file information into new filenames during renaming.

INFO

Regex capture variables are also supported but discussed separately.

Syntax Overview ​

In F2, any text within curly braces ({<var>}) is treated as a variable. Since version 1.9.0, a single pair of curly braces is used (e.g., {var}), although the older double-brace syntax ({{<var>}}) is still supported for backward compatibility.

The following example assumes your current working directory is house-chores and contains these files:

bash
house-chores/
├── cleaning.md
├── laundry.md
├── mowing.md
└── washing.md

You can include one or more variables in the replacement string. For instance, {p}, {f}, and {ext} represent the parent directory, filename, and file extension respectively.

bash
f2 -r "{p}_{f}{ext}"

F2 will replace each variable with the appropriate data from the file:

  • {p} becomes house-chores (the parent directory).
  • {f} becomes the original filename (cleaning, laundry, etc.).
  • {ext} becomes the original file extension (.md).
text
 *—————————————*——————————————————————————*————————*
 |  ORIGINAL   |         RENAMED          | STATUS |
 *—————————————*——————————————————————————*————————*
 | cleaning.md | house-chores_cleaning.md | ok     |
 | laundry.md  | house-chores_laundry.md  | ok     |
 | mowing.md   | house-chores_mowing.md   | ok     |
 | washing.md  | house-chores_washing.md  | ok     |
 *—————————————*——————————————————————————*————————*

Transforming Variables ​

You can also transform variables. For example, to uppercase the filename:

bash
f2 -r "{p}_{f.up}{ext}"

Output:

text
 *—————————————*——————————————————————————*————————*
 |  ORIGINAL   |         RENAMED          | STATUS |
 *—————————————*——————————————————————————*————————*
 | cleaning.md | house-chores_CLEANING.md | ok     |
 | laundry.md  | house-chores_LAUNDRY.md  | ok     |
 | mowing.md   | house-chores_MOWING.md   | ok     |
 | washing.md  | house-chores_WASHING.md  | ok     |
 *—————————————*——————————————————————————*————————*

These transformations (uppercase, lowercase, titlecase, etc.) are global and can be applied to any variable.

Customizing Variables ​

Some variables, like {p}, also offer unique customization options. Assuming the absolute path for the house-chores directory is:

text
/home/user/dev/demo/f2/docs/house-chores

You may retrieve each directory in the path by prefixing the {p} variable with a number as in {2p}, {3p} etc. Here, this will yield the following output:

  • {p} or {1p}: house-chores
  • {2p}: docs
  • {3p}: f2
  • {4p}: dev
  • and so on
bash
f2 -r "{3p.up}_{2p}_{p}_{f.up}{ext}"

Output:

text
*—————————————*——————————————————————————————————*————————*
|  ORIGINAL   |             RENAMED              | STATUS |
*—————————————*——————————————————————————————————*————————*
| cleaning.md | F2_docs_house-chores_CLEANING.md | ok     |
| laundry.md  | F2_docs_house-chores_LAUNDRY.md  | ok     |
| mowing.md   | F2_docs_house-chores_MOWING.md   | ok     |
| washing.md  | F2_docs_house-chores_WASHING.md  | ok     |
*—————————————*——————————————————————————————————*————————*

Built-in Variables ​

The following variables have been provided for maximum flexibility in file renaming: