I'm adding a unique number to a list of ripped CD mp3 files so that they will play in the correct order, that works fine.
However, I also want to do the same to the folder names, but if I do this and then I rip another CD, I know that I can repeat the process, but is there an easy bulk way of removing the first set of unique numbers?
For instance, if I have folders A and B, I can use uniqiue nuimber so that they are renamed 001 A and 002 B. However if I then create a new folder A1 that ends up alphabetically between A and B, is there a bulk way of deleting the 001 and 002 from the front of the original A and B folders' names and then re-adding a new set of unique numbers so that the list will be 001 A, 002 A1, 003B?
It's all the fault of my new car's ICE that it has a mind of its own when it comes to deciding on the order of the folders.
So you want to avoid renaming all the other folders after the insertion point?
And the car's ICE only sorts things by number, not alphanumeric strings? That's pretty bad. (Are you sure it's not ignoring the names entirely and playing things in the order they were added to the drive?)
I don't think there's an easy way to do that. A rename script could probably do it, if you can work out the logic required to work out which names need to change and fit between which others, and which need to be left as they are.
It's not ideal, but I think I can do it with multiple uses of Find and Replace.
Given that I an not likely to have more than 20 or 30 folders on the USB drive, I can do it by sequentially deleting "00" and replacing it with nothing, then "01" and again nothing and then "02" and again nothing. That should leave the folders numbered 1, 2, 3 and so on. Doing the same process again, Find and Replace for "1" will remove the remnant of 1, 21, 31 and so on. Do the same again for the rest of the numbers and I can then sort by folder name and add unique numbers back again. I was just hoping that there was a way of doing it that I'm not clever enough to spot.
Sorry, missed you question about playing them in the order they were added. I have solved that by sorting by date and time in DO and then doing the add Unique Number, that seems to work fine. What I now want to do is for the car to list the folders alphabetically/numberically, at the moment it lists everything in, as far as I can see, the time of additon to the USB stick.
If I understand correctly, that means you don't need the numeric prefixes at all, and just need to delete everything on the USB stick and copy it all back again each time you add something that needs to sort between existing items.
Thanks, I copied all the folders and files back to the PC hard drive, added Unique Numbers to the folder names after I had sorted them alphabetically and all is good. I then deleted the folders on the USB and copied the new ones across. The car now presents the folders in the Unique number with the artist's name, so all put to bed until I rip a few more CDs and then I can do it again. There are only 31 top level folders so it's not too onerous.