what command can i use to remove the first 15 chars of hundereds of files so i can get them in alphabetical order, files are named CBEP???-?-?? - filename.xxx, the ? are different for every file (numbers) i want to remove everything apart from filename.xxx. cheers, Royce

@echo off setLocal EnableDelayedExpansion set okToRename=n :loop for /f "tokens=* delims= " %%f in ('dir /b /a-d CBEP*.*') do ( set filename=%%f if !okToRename!==y (ren %%f !filename:~15!) else (echo %%f==^>!filename:~15!) ) set /P okToRename="Is It OK to Rename Those File(s) (y/n)?" if !okToRename!==y goto :loop

The original post seems to include spaces in the 13th and 15th positions in the filenames, and spaces may be present in the path to the files. Would it not be wise to enclose the path/filenames in " "?

@echo off & setLocal EnableDelayedExpansion pushd c:\files for /f "tokens=* delims= " %%a in ('dir/b/a-d') do ( set FN=%%a set FN=!FN:~15,77! ren "%%a" "!FN!" ) ===================================== If at first you don't succeed, you're about average. M2

dang, didnt thought of the space. hope i havent cause any damage in the renaming process. those batch scripting is still new stuff to me, i will be more careful in the future.