Batch file to detect only part of the file name

Question

I need a batch file fragment that can detect part of the file name, and then rename it. Note that the numbers after the file name change randomly, but the “file” is always the same.

Example:

filename: file143424

There will always be only one file in a folder that needs to be renamed. The script will delete older versions of the file. For example, I put there the first file inside the folder and script. Then I run a script that renames it to just a file. Then, if I placed a new file, the script, when I run it again, will recognize it from the "file" prefix and rename it to the file after deleting the old one.

Answer 1

Sorry. I think your question is incomplete. Do you want to rename "file134342" to what?

In your comment, you said: rename it only to “file”, but this only works if there is only one file with this name. Anyway, here it is:

for %%f in (file*) do ren %%f file 

If this is not what you want, then give us more detailed information (you always show details from the very beginning).

Answer 2

You can check the first four characters in this way:

 if "%filename:~0,4%"=="file" ... 

Answer 3

The @Aacini suggestion should work fine in your case. But you can do just fine without a for loop, just one REN ( RENAME ) command is enough:

 RENAME file* file