Rename files using Powershell must include GetDate & Increment numbers

September 6, 2022

I am struggling to get this Powershell code to work below. I would like to rename files as per below.

06.09.2022_15.05. MYUSER 1

If there is multiple files in the folder then be able to increment
06.09.2022_15.05. MYUSER 1
06.09.2022_15.05. MYUSER 2
06.09.2022_15.05. MYUSER 3

below is the code i am using but it is not working (obviously)

 $GetUser = [Environment]::UserName
 $i = 1
 Get-ChildItem *.pdf | 
 rename-item -NewName {((get-date).ToString("dd.MM.yyyy_HH.mm.")+" "+," "+ $GetUser +,$_.Extension -f $i++ )}

This returns

06.09.2022.15.05. MYUSER

As you can see it doesn’t have the incremented number at the end

>Solution :

There are two problems with your current script: you’re not providing an appropriate template string for the -f operator, and that the Rename-Item -NewName block will execute in its own local scope, meaning the original value of $i is never modified when you do $i++ inside the -NewName scriptblock.

Use ForEach-Object to construct the new name ahead of time, then pass it to Rename-Item:

$username = [Environment]::UserName
$counter = 1
$timestamp = Get-Date -Format 'dd.MM.yyyy_HH.mm.'

Get-ChildItem *.pdf |ForEach-Object {
  $newName = "{0} {1} {2}{3}" -f $timestamp,$username,$counter++,$_.Extension

  $_ |Rename-Item -NewName $newName
}