Hi all sorry for my really basic level of programming; I need to sort out this problem; I have a number of *.txt files and I want to rename all them with #.txt where # is a consecutive number; I want all this through the use of a batch file; since now I've managed to write what follows (e.g for 10 *.txt files): for %%b in (*.txt) do for /L %%a in (1,1,10) do rename %%~nb.txt %%a.txt which is doing the almost right the work BUT on the other hand I understand it is a really poor (and even not an efficient) way to deal with the problem; I hope in your valuable help, please in case of reply specify me all the sequence of commands (I'm a real newby); I searched through this forum but I did not find exactly what I need thank you

are you sure you have searched ? you most probably will not find EXACTLY what you want as most problems come from different domains, but you should probably find SIMILAR types of problems. Check these search results. http://computing.net/cgi-bin/AT-sea...

Yes, you are right (as usual) I've managed to find something and I've adapted it to my needs; and it works!! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> @echo off set count=0 for %%i in (*.jpg) do ( set name=%%i call :countadd ) :countadd set /a count=count+1 ren %name% %count%.jpg goto :eof >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I just do not exactly understand this: ( set name=%%i call :countadd ) I did not know it's possible to insert a call there... thank you max

Here the most elegant way to perform your task under Win NT/4.0 or higher Just replace in PushD "\Temp" with your folder path @Echo Off PushD \Temp Set Count=1 For %%A in (*.txt) Do Call :NUM %%A Set Count= PopD GoTo :EOF :NUM Ren "%*" %Count%.txt Set /A Count+=1 GoTo :EOF By the way, I am italian too, from Milano.

thanks ivo that's really great ! ...but I would like to generalize it so that the batch can be run in every dir it is stored (without having to specify the folder path); and here I have another question: how would you store in a variable the name of the dir where the batch is resident?(I mean a relative name: e.g. "c:\temp" would end up in a variable with content "temp") thanks by the way I'm IT from Padua

Well Max, I'll answer your questions later as now I've an incoming hot call to service. Ciao Ivo

::== seq.bat @echo off setLocal EnableDelayedExpansion for /f "tokens=* delims= " %%a in ('dir /s/b/a-d c:\temp\*.txt') do ( set /a N+=1 echo ren %%a !N!.txt ) ::== ===================================== If at first you don't succeed, you're about average. M2