nflz - Numbered Filenames With Leading Zeros - CLI + Library

CLI + Library to add leading zeros to ascending numbered file names. NFLZ stands for Numbered Files Leading Zeros.

This library helps you to manage files inside your file system that belong to a set of ordered files. An example are photos from a camera.

What it Does

Content of some directory: On the left you see files that are inside a directory. The files may represent photos from one or multiple cameras that you organized for example with Windows Explorer. nflz can add an appropriate number of leading zeroes into the filename so that every trivial program can sort them correctly by their apathetically order. In short: It ensures that chronological order equals the alphabetical order.

paris (1).png   =>  paris (01).png
paris (2).png   =>  paris (02).png
...
paris (12).png  =>  paris (12).png
...
paris (n).png   =>  n digits => indicator for how many zeros to add

Install / How To Use

Rust library

Cargo.toml:

nflz = "<latest-version>"

Minimal example:

use nflz::NFLZAssistant;

/// Minimal example that renames all files in the given directory.
/// After the operation is done, all will include the same amount of digits
/// inside their number group inside the filename.
fn main() {
    let assistant = NFLZAssistant::new("./test-resources").unwrap();
    dbg!(assistant.files_to_rename());
    // some files may already have the correct name
    dbg!(assistant.files_without_rename());
    if assistant.check_can_rename_all().is_ok() {
        assistant.rename_all().unwrap();
    }
}

Please also check out the docs on https://docs.rs/nflz.

CLI tool

$ cargo install nflz
It either works in the pwd (present working dir) or in the directory passed as the first argument.

$ nflz
$ nflz <absolute or relative path to dir>

nflz asks you for confirmation before it does any changes to your file system! However, always backup the files in another directory first to make sure nothing becomes inconsistent.

Background

If you select multiple files in Windows Explorer and rename them to the same name, Windows Explorer automatically numbers all files for you in parentheses. The downside is that there are no leading zeros. Other programs than Windows, e.g. Google Drive, can't order the files properly without the leading zeros. Here comes my CLI/lib into the game!

Example output

NFLZ would not rename the following files:
  paris (734).jpg
NFLZ would rename the following files:
  paris (001).jpg           => paris (1).jpg
  paris (002).jpg           => paris (2).jpg
  paris (003).jpg           => paris (3).jpg
  paris (004).jpg           => paris (4).jpg
  paris (005).jpg           => paris (5).jpg
  paris (006).jpg           => paris (6).jpg
  paris (007).jpg           => paris (7).jpg
  paris (008).jpg           => paris (8).jpg
  paris (009).jpg           => paris (9).jpg
  paris (010).jpg           => paris (10).jpg

Please confirm with 'y' or abort with 'n'
  NFLZ can't guarantee you 100% safety. Always make a backup first (:
  But to the best of my knowledge this should work if no catastrophic failure occurs.
y
Successfully renamed 11 files.

MSRV

The MSRV is 1.56.1 stable.