APPEND PREFIX INDEX INTEGET LEFT PAD ZERO

append.sh

#!/bin/bash
# This script recursively renames files in all child directories.
# For any file that begins with a numeric prefix followed by a hyphen,
# the script will remove that prefix. For example:
#   001-finename.extension.pdf  =>  finename.extension.pdf

# Find all files recursively, sort them alphabetically
find . -type f | sort | while IFS= read -r file; do
    dir=$(dirname "$file")
    base=$(basename "$file")
    
    # Check if the file name starts with one or more digits followed by a hyphen
    if [[ "$base" =~ ^[0-9]+- ]]; then
        # Remove the numeric prefix and the hyphen
        newbase=${base#[0-9]*-}
        newfile="$dir/$newbase"
        
        echo "Renaming '$file' to '$newfile'"
        
        # Avoid overwriting an existing file
        if [ -e "$newfile" ]; then
            echo "Warning: '$newfile' already exists. Skipping rename."
        else
            mv "$file" "$newfile"
        fi
    else
        echo "Skipping '$file' (no numeric prefix found)"
    fi
done