[SOLVED] Rename multiple files in Bash with random strings

Issue

Assuming an arbitrary number of files with random names and the same file extension (e.g., file1.txt, file2.txt...fileN.txt). How could you rename them all reliably with a random string?

Such as, file1.txt, file2.txt...fileN.txt to asdfwefer.txt, jsdafjk.txt... or any combination of letters from latin alphabet].txt

Solution

quickest hack to get a random-letters string I can think of is

head -c24 /dev/urandom | base64 | tr -dc a-zA-Z

so

randomname() { head -c24 /dev/urandom | base64 | tr -dc a-zA-Z; }
for f in file*.txt; do mv "$f" `randomname`.txt; done

and your odds of a collision are down in the one-in-a-billion range even with a huge list. Add a serial number on the end of randomname's output and that goes away too.

Answered By - jthill

Answer Checked By - Candace Johnson (WPSolving Volunteer)