Renames Mac screenshot files using a more command line friendly format.

chg-screenshot-filenames

#!/usr/bin/env python3

# This script reads the filespecs in the current directory, collects names of files
# in the default screenshot file name format, converts the names to lower case
# with spaces converted to hyphens, and removes the "at" to produce a command line friendly filespec;
# for example, "Screenshot 2024-02-18 at 21.06.31.pdf" becomes "screenshot-2024-02-18--21.06.31.pdf".
#
# It ignores but preserves the extensions, so if you have changed the screenshot file type with, e.g.:
# defaults write com.apple.screencapture type pdf && killall SystemUIServer
# then it will rename those PDF files too.

# It defaults to searching the directory for all matching files, but you can also specify

# If "-n" is added to the command line then it shows the new names but does not rename the files.

import os
import sys
import re

def rename_files(dry_run=False, files=None):
    pattern = re.compile(r'Screenshot \d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2} at \d{2}\.\d{2}\.\d{2}\.*')
    if files is None:
        files = os.listdir('.')
    matching_files = filter(pattern.match, files)
    for filename in matching_files:
        new_name = compute_new_name(filename, pattern)
        if not dry_run:
            os.rename(filename, new_name)


def compute_new_name(filename, pattern):
    name, extension = os.path.splitext(filename)
    new_name = name.lower().replace(" ", "-").replace("at", "") + extension
    print(f"Old Name: {filename} -> New Name: {new_name}")
    return new_name


def main():
    dry_run = process_dry_run()
    files = [arg for arg in sys.argv[1:]]
    rename_files(dry_run, files if files else None)


def process_dry_run():
    dry_run = "-n" in sys.argv
    if dry_run:
        sys.argv.remove("-n")
        print("Dry run mode; not changing file names.")
    else:
        print("Changing file names:")
    return dry_run


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()