The best file renamer I've ever used on the Mac in 17 years is "Renamer4Mac". IMHO this is "Non-Sucking Software".

Granted it's nothing spectacular and a 1.0 release BUT unlike any other renaming software it is simple, it works, and even provides a preview of the results. The appliction name and icon are bland but who cares... because it works and also it's a Cocoa app. HUGE Bonus: it is freeware!

http://www.power4mac.com/renamer/

Try A Better Finder Rename. You can use Grep even :P. Works great.

Or you can use on of Apple's Finder AppleScripts from the script menu:
http://www.apple.com/applescript/script_menu/
Free and elegant and (probably) not made with realbasic.

These apps remind me of one of the first apps I wrote back in '92: "Renamer". Written in Turbo Pascal for Mac, it dumped you into a SIOUX-like environment where you had to enter the full path to the file you wanted to rename and then the full path again with the changed name. Make a mistake? Unsure? No worry, you could check the printed result code which stayed on the screen for as long as it took System 6 to reload the Finder from your 3.5'' again. Aahh, the memories.

Cool! Where do you find all these apps! Soo many, soo cool! ;-) And keep the battle agains RealBasic crap going! :-D

crapvalcade - I love it.

R-Name is my favorite. It's easy, fast and free:
http://www.tulip.sannet.ne.jp/tayo/cocoa/rname_en.html

another vote for a better finder rename.

Seriously, just use the applescripts that come with OS X. Harold's got it down. Who wants a separate app to rename files? That's just a fucking waste, and if you're too stupid to get the scripts menu working yourself, just install "mail scripts" ( http://versiontracker.com/moreinfo.fcgi?id=16217&db=mac ) and it will set the menu up for you, in addition to adding more scripts.

This article was brilliantly surreal. :)

I am offended by your crude reference to me. Please remove it at once, or at least change it to "the stunningly beautiful and supremely talented ranger rangerfield."

I don't get no respect.

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
# usage: rename <regex> file1 [file2... ]

$re = shift @ARGV;
for(@ARGV){
$orig = $_;
eval $re or next;
if(-e $_) {print "\"$_\" exists!\n"; next }
print "\"$orig\" -> \"$_\"\n";
rename $orig,$_;
}

What happened to mv?

I am the developer of renamer, and I found this refreshing! I know that the interface of renamer needs some work, and over all its good publicity.

Any other comments on renamer?

I love how the developers of crappy software always seem to reply to outdated messages in order to avoid whiplash from our ridicule by keeping current. Next time please try to respond to our lashings when we are in the process of lashing!

Sinner!

What can be better than Renamer4Mac?? Very quick, free, easy to use. Thanks to the person who sugggested it.