>Brother Tom was able to successfully open the files
using Frank's suggestion - he was quite happy, and I was relieved that
all my time hadn't been wasted.<

Hey Cindy,

Glad it worked! Merry X-mas. Here's a PC power user tip. If Tom is
comfortable with using the old DOS command-prompt (in Win 95/98 its still
found under Start/programs) he could utilize its batch command to rename
all the files within a given folder. He would need to separate all the
files that need to be renamed into a separate folder/directory so that he
doesn't rename any other files- the process is easiest explained if the
folder is on his C drive with "temp" a typical folder name...

Then at the "C:\>" Command Prompt type the following line without the
brackets and hitting the space bar for each underscore:

<cd_temp>

which will bring him to that temp directory. The command prompt should read
"C:\temp>"

Using the * wildcard symbol, he would then type the line:

< ren_*.*_*.jpg>

* Wildcards mean any/everything. Ren means rename. So *.* means all files
with any extension, *.jpg is what they'd get renamed to.  Just remember to
type these without the brackets and hitting the space bar for each
underscore.

This would allow him to rename 80 files in about 8 or 9 seconds. Gotta love
it.

Cheers,

Frank




Frank Ippolito
Principal Scientific Assistant
Dept Vertebrate Paleontology
American Museum of Natural History
79th Street & CPW
NY    NY    10024
(212) 769-5812
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