# format format greps lines from stdin, parses them via regex and reformats them according to a given format string ## Input pattern The input pattern describes the format in which the lines are parsed from stdin. This pattern is a regular expression according to [Go's regexp spec](https://pkg.go.dev/regexp). Be default, the input pattern will only be applied to every single line. When using multiline patterns, you can provide an amount of lines using the command line argument `-n` followed by an integer amount of lines. Use subgroups for extracting specific parts of the input line. Provide your custom input pattern with the command line argument `-i ''` The default value is `^.*?$` which simply matches the whole line. ## Output pattern The output pattern describes the format in which lines are generated for stdout using data from the input pattern. The default value is `{0}` which always matches the full input pattern ### Capturing groups Use the `{}` syntax to use a specific capturing group. - `{0}` always matches the whole line. - `{1}` matches the first capturing group - `{2}` matches the second capturing group - and so on ### Formatting When referencing capturing groups, you can add a specific format for some data types as well using a simplified printf syntax. You can use them using this syntax: `{1:%d}`. It will parse the first capturing group into an integer to get rid of leading zeros. Additionally, you can provide a given amount of leading zeros via: `{1:%03d}` for a total length of 3 digits. The same method can also be applied to `%f` to further format floating point values. See a full list of formatting options at [Go's fmt spec](https://pkg.go.dev/fmt). Currently only `%s`, `%d` and `%f` are supported though. ### Mutators Mutators are a simple way of manipulating number values like integers and floats using a simple math-like expression You can provide a mutator using the syntax: `{1:%d:+1}`. It will parse the first capturing group into an integer, adds 1 and then formats the result using the printf format `%d`. A mutator always consists of an operator and a value. In the example above `+` is the operator and `1` is the value. The following operators are supported for `%d` and `%f` formats: - `+` - `-` - `*` - `/` It is possible to add multiple mutators by just concatenating them: `{1:%d:*2+1}`. Multiple mutators will not follow any order of operations. They are simply applied from left to right! Furthermore you can reference caputring groups which will be parsed as the same type to apply its value. This is done via the following syntax: `{1:%d:+(2)}`. It will parse the first and second capturing group into integers and adds them. ## Handling unmatched lines By default, lines which do not match the input pattern will be dropped. Use `-k` to keep them unchanged. They will be copied into stdout. ## Examples ### Copying Input: ``` 1 2 3 4 ``` Command: `format` Output: ``` 1 2 3 4 ``` ### Filtering Only keep lines which contains an `i` Input: ``` one two three four five six seven eight nine ten ``` Command: `format -i '.*i.*'` Output: ``` five six eight nine ``` ### Removing leading zeros Input: ``` 001 002 003 04 ``` Command: `format -i '\d+' -o '{0:%d}'` Output: ``` 1 2 3 4 ``` ### Extracting dates Input: ``` 2022-04-18 1970-01-01 2006-01-02 ``` Command: `format -i '(\d{4})-(\d{2})-(\d{2})' -o 'day: {3:%d} | month: {2:%d} | year: {1}'` Output: ``` day: 18 | month: 4 | year: 2022 day: 1 | month: 1 | year: 1970 day: 2 | month: 1 | year: 2006 ``` ### Applying multiple formats Every format process can only apply a single pattern. Use `-k` to keep unmatched lines so the next format instance can apply another input pattern to them Input: ``` 2022-04-18 1970-01-01 02.01.2006 02.02.1962 ``` Command: `format -i '(\d{4})-(\d{2})-(\d{2})' -o 'day: {3:%d} | month: {2:%d} | year: {1}' -k | format -i '(\d{2})\.(\d{2})\.(\d{4})' -o 'day: {1:%d} | month: {2:%d} | year: {3}' -k` Output: ``` day: 18 | month: 4 | year: 2022 day: 1 | month: 1 | year: 1970 day: 2 | month: 1 | year: 2006 day: 2 | month: 2 | year: 1962 ``` ### Parsing multi-line patterns Input: ``` year: 2022 month: 04 day: 18 year: 1970 month: 01 day: 01 year: 2006 month: 01 day: 02 year: 1962 month: 02 day: 02 ``` Command: `format -n 3 -i '^year: (\d{4})\nmonth: (\d{2})\nday: (\d{2})$' -o 'day: {3:%d} | month: {2:%d} | year: {1}'` Output: ``` day: 18 | month: 4 | year: 2022 day: 1 | month: 1 | year: 1970 day: 2 | month: 1 | year: 2006 day: 2 | month: 2 | year: 1962 ``` ### Bulk renaming files Rename a bunch of files using format at once Output of `ls`: ``` 000.jpg 001.jpg 002.jpg ``` Command: `ls | format -i '(\d+)\.jpg' -o 'mv "{0}" "{1:%d:+1}.jpg"' | xargs -0 sh -c` Output of `ls` afterwards: ``` 1.jpg 2.jpg 3.jpg ``` To further automate this, I made my own custom script called `bulkrename` and put it in my `$PATH` Content: ```sh #!/usr/bin/env sh if [ "$3" = "exec" ]; then command ls | format -i "$1" -o "mv \"{0}\" \"$2\"" | xargs -0 -P 4 sh -c else command ls | format -i "$1" -o "mv \"{0}\" \"$2\"" echo echo "execute commands with 'bulkrename $@ exec'" fi ``` There are a few things to consider using this script: - You can't use `-i` and `-o`. The first argument is input, the second is output - To prevent unwanted file modifications, it will print the `mv` commands it generates to stdout by default. After you checked that all files will be renamed as desired, just add `exec` as its third argument - It can only move items which are in your working directory. But it can move these files outside of the working directory using relative or absolute paths Example usage of this script: Output of `ls`: ``` 000.jpg 001.jpg 002.jpg ``` Command: `bulkrename '(\d+)\.jpg' '{1:%d:+1}.jpg'` Output: ``` mv "000.jpg" "1.jpg" mv "001.jpg" "2.jpg" mv "002.jpg" "3.jpg" execute commands with 'bulkrename (\d+)\.jpg {1:%d:+1}.jpg exec' ``` Command: `bulkrename '(\d+)\.jpg' '{1:%d:+1}.jpg' exec` Output of `ls` afterwards: ``` 1.jpg 2.jpg 3.jpg ```