\cfg{man-identity}{multi}{1}{2004-11-20}{Simon Tatham}{Simon Tatham}
\cfg{man-mindepth}{1}
-\C{multi-manpage} Man page for \cw{multi}
+\title Man page for \cw{multi}
-\H{multi-manpage-name} NAME
+\U NAME
\cw{multi} - bulk file rename/copy utility using Perl regexps
-\H{multi-manpage-synopsis} SYNOPSIS
+\U SYNOPSIS
\c multi [ -n | -q ] [ -r ] cmd perlfragment file [file...]
\e bbbbb bb bb bb iii iiiiiiiiiiii iiii iiii
\c multi [ -n | -q ] [ -r ] - cmd cmd - perlfragment file [file...]
\e bbbbb bb bb bb iii iii iiiiiiiiiiii iiii iiii
-\H{multi-manpage-description} DESCRIPTION
+\U DESCRIPTION
\cw{multi} is a utility which allows you to invoke a command
(typically, but not always, \cw{mv} or \cw{cp}) on a lot of files in
passing \cw{mv} or \cw{cp} as the command. However, it can have more
complex uses as well; see the examples below.
-\H{multi-manpage-args} ARGUMENTS
+\U ARGUMENTS
\dt \e{cmd}
to be transformed. Typically these will be generated by typing one
or more wildcard expressions on the shell command line.
-\H{multi-manpage-options} OPTIONS
+\U OPTIONS
By default, \cw{multi} will print every command it executes on
standard output, so that you can see what it has just done (in case
\dd Reverse the order of arguments to the subcommand, so that it
receives the transformed file name \e{before} the original one.
-\H{multi-manpage-examples} EXAMPLES
+\U EXAMPLES
The simplest use of \cw{multi} is to rename a large number of files.
Suppose, for example, you have a lot of text files with \cw{.txt}
programs and you want to quickly compile them all into binaries:
\c $ multi -r - cc -o - 's/.c$//' *.c
+\e bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
\c cc -o bar bar.c
\c cc -o baz baz.c
\c cc -o foo foo.c
\c grep foo baz.txt > baz.grepped
\c grep foo foo.txt > foo.grepped
-\H{multi-manpage-ack} ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
+\U ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The O'Reilly book \q{Programming Perl} includes a simple example
script which contains the core idea of this program. It takes a
single Perl argument followed by filenames, and invokes Perl's
internal \cw{rename} function. \cw{multi} is a complete rewrite of
this basic idea, supplying more options and configurability.
+
+\U LICENCE
+
+\cw{multi} is free software, distributed under the MIT licence. Type
+\cw{multi --licence} to see the full licence text.