Rename 100+ Files in Seconds Using Python!

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🧠 Introduction

Ever opened a folder full of files with names like IMG_001, doc (1).pdf, or Untitled.txt and thought... “There has to be a faster way”?

With just a few lines of Python, you can automatically rename every file in a folder — no clicking, no dragging, and no stress.

Whether you're organizing images, PDFs, or project files, Python makes it simple and fast.

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🛠️ What You’ll Learn

In this tutorial, you’ll learn:

• ✅ How to list files in a folder using os.listdir()

• ✅ How to rename files with a consistent pattern

• ✅ How to test safely before touching your real files

This is one of the easiest and most powerful Python automations for beginners.

💻 Full Python Code

pythonCopyEditimport os

# 🔧 Change this to your actual folder path
folder_path = "./your-folder-name"  # Example: "./images" or r"C:\Users\You\Desktop\rename_test"

# 🔁 Loop through all files in the folder
for i, filename in enumerate(os.listdir(folder_path)):
    old_path = os.path.join(folder_path, filename)
    new_name = f"file_{i}.txt"  # Change the pattern if you like
    new_path = os.path.join(folder_path, new_name)

    os.rename(old_path, new_path)

print("✅ All files renamed successfully!")

🔍 How It Works (Line by Line)

Let’s break this down:

pythonCopyEditimport os

Imports Python's built-in os module — it lets you interact with your file system (folders, paths, files).

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pythonCopyEditfolder_path = "./your-folder-name"

Replace "./your-folder-name" with the path to your folder.
On Windows, use r"C:\Users\You\Desktop\folder" to avoid backslash errors.

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pythonCopyEditfor i, filename in enumerate(os.listdir(folder_path)):

• os.listdir() lists all files in the folder

• enumerate() gives each file an index (0, 1, 2…)

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pythonCopyEdit    old_path = os.path.join(folder_path, filename)
    new_name = f"file_{i}.txt"
    new_path = os.path.join(folder_path, new_name)

These lines:

• Get the full original path

• Build a new name like file_0.txt

• Build the full path for the renamed file

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pythonCopyEdit    os.rename(old_path, new_path)

This line actually renames the file 💥

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🧪 Example Before & After

Original files:

CopyEditIMG_101.jpg
IMG_102.jpg
IMG_103.jpg

After script runs:

CopyEditfile_0.txt
file_1.txt
file_2.txt

✅ You can change .txt to .jpg, .pdf, or keep the original extension (we’ll cover that in a future post).

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🛡️ Safety Tip

Always test this in a copy of your folder first. Renaming is permanent unless you back it up.

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🚀 Run This on Your Own Computer

1. Install Python from python.org

2. Save the script as rename_files.py

3. Open a terminal → go to the folder where your script is saved

4. Run it with:

    nginxCopyEditpython rename_files.py
   

🔁 Done in seconds!

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🎓 Takeaway

You just automated something that would take forever to do by hand.
This is just the start — Python can rename, organize, filter, move, and even clean your files.