Undoing renaming mistakes

F2 makes it really easy to revert a renaming operation if mistakes were made. A backup file is automatically created for each renaming operation that is performed and stored in the ~/.local/share/f2/backups directory on Linux, ~/Library/Application Support/f2/backups on macOS, and %LOCALAPPDATA%\f2\backups on Windows. For example, given the following operation:

pwd

/home/ayo/Pictures/Wallpapers

f2 -f '.*' -r "unsplash-image-%03d" -e

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
| ORIGINAL                                          | RENAMED                | STATUS |
| *********************************************************************************** |
| kevin-wong-tt7aK2yV7xo-unsplash.jpg               | unsplash-image-001.jpg | ok     |
| nathan-anderson-7TGVEgcTKlY-unsplash.jpg          | unsplash-image-002.jpg | ok     |
| photo-1434907652076-85f8401482c3.jpg              | unsplash-image-003.jpg | ok     |
| photo-1510272839903-5112a2e44bc6.jpg              | unsplash-image-004.jpg | ok     |
| photo-1521579971123-1192931a1452.jpg              | unsplash-image-005.jpg | ok     |
| samuele-errico-piccarini-t4OxCpKie70-unsplash.jpg | unsplash-image-006.jpg | ok     |
| valentin-salja-VMroCCpP648-unsplash.jpg           | unsplash-image-007.jpg | ok     |
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Executing the operation will produce a JSON backup file in the user's home directory as shown below:

f2 -f '.*' -r "unsplash-image-%03d" -e -x

ls ~/.local/share/f2/backups

_home_ayo_Pictures_Wallpapers.json

This backup file is used to revert the operation when you specify the --undo or -u flag. The command to revert an operation must be executed in the directory where the original operation was performed, otherwise the backup file will not be found.

f2 -u # dry-run

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
| ORIGINAL               | RENAMED                                           | STATUS |
| *********************************************************************************** |
| unsplash-image-007.jpg | valentin-salja-VMroCCpP648-unsplash.jpg           | ok     |
| unsplash-image-006.jpg | samuele-errico-piccarini-t4OxCpKie70-unsplash.jpg | ok     |
| unsplash-image-005.jpg | photo-1521579971123-1192931a1452.jpg              | ok     |
| unsplash-image-004.jpg | photo-1510272839903-5112a2e44bc6.jpg              | ok     |
| unsplash-image-003.jpg | photo-1434907652076-85f8401482c3.jpg              | ok     |
| unsplash-image-002.jpg | nathan-anderson-7TGVEgcTKlY-unsplash.jpg          | ok     |
| unsplash-image-001.jpg | kevin-wong-tt7aK2yV7xo-unsplash.jpg               | ok     |
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

f2 -ux # revert the renaming operation

Note that:

• The auto created backup file is specific to the working directory where F2 is executed. It is overwritten each time you rename files in that working directory.
• The backup file is automatically deleted after a successful reversion.
• A backup file is not created when an operation is reverted, but you can easily repeat the original renaming command.
• A backup file is auto created even if there are errors while the renaming operation is being performed. See recovering from failures.
• If any of the renamed files are changed by another program between the time the renaming operation is performed and the time a reversion is attempted, it may cause the reversion to fail for that particular file. You will be notified of which files are unable to be reverted and why.
• Any directories that were created in the original renaming operation will be left alone and not deleted when reverting the operation.