What is NameDate?

NameDate is a 32-bit command line utility for Windows XP/7/8/10. NameDate will change the name of a given file to include the date. For example, a file name somefile.ext will be renamed to somefile 31-Oct-2016.ext when namedate somefile.ext is run.

NameDate offers a whole range of options to configure how the resulting file name should be formatted, define where the file should be located (you can move the files while renaming them), add a counter or several other features.

NameDate is free software and comes with full source code. No purchase necessary, but donations are welcome!

Version Information

New in version 7.11 (11. Feb 2019)

• No functional changes. Recompiled with gcc 8.1.0 and replaced some system calls (sprintf) with the buffer-safe versions (snprintf) to eliminate compiler warnings.

New in version 7.10 (31. Oct 2017)

• Added the handling for square braces for -Z and -ZZ formats. Enclosing part of the string in [braces] will make that part of the text literal, meaning that no substitution will take place. For example, -ZZ:"Sample-Ymd" would be interpreted as "(Seconds)(Weekday)(Month)(AM/PM)le-(Year)(Month)(Day)" while "[Sample-]Ymd" would be interpreted as "Sample-(Year)(Month)(Day)".

New in version 7.00 (14. May 2017)

• Added the -ME / --Exif option to use the original date from the Exif data (if present). If no Exif data is found in the file, the modification date (-M) is used.
• Completely re-wrote the command line processor. NameDate now supports short (single dash, 1-2 letter) commands and long (double dash, human-readable) commands.
• NameDate can now read options from a text file with the @filename command line parameter. (See the README.TXT file for examples).
• Added a new -SZ / --FolderFormat option. When used together with -S="dir" (or --TargetFolder="dir") or
  -SM="dir" (--MoveToTarget="dir"), the "dir" is processed like a filename using the -Z="fmt"
  (--FormatDate="fmt") command. (See the README.TXT file for complete information).
• Added the -OW=[n] option to add/subtract [n] WEEKS from the date.
• Added the -G option to use UTC instead of the local timezone on the PC.
• Revised the code that calculates the -Ax=n and -Ox=n time/date offsets to eliminate some errors seen with timezones calculations.
• Compiled with gcc 5.3.0 and tested on Windows 10 (64 bit).

For more details, please see the version information provided with the application.

For more information about the full range of features, Download NameDate and try it out. If you like what you see, please ! Thank you!

Usage: NAMEDATE [switches] filename.ext

where switches may be

and where filename.ext

is the name of an existing file. The filename.ext may contain a drive letter, a directory name and wildcards, so it's possible to rename all of the files in a given directory.

"format" characters used by the -Z (--FormatDate) and -ZZ (--NameFormat) options. These also apply when using the -SZ (--FolderFormat) option.

a	Abbreviated weekday name
A	Full weekday name
b	Abbreviated month name
B	Full month name
d	Day of month as decimal number (01-31)
H	Hour in 24-hour format (00-23)
I	Hour in 12-hour format (01-12)
j	Day of year as decimal number (001-366)
m	Month as decimal number (01-12)
M	Minute as decimal number (00-59)
p	Current locale's A.M./P.M. indicator for 12-hour clock
S	Second as decimal number (00-59)
U	Week of year as decimal number, with Sunday as first day of week (00-53)
w	Weekday as decimal number (0-6; Sunday is 0)
W	Week of year as decimal number, with Monday as first day of week (00-53)
y	Year without century, as decimal number (00-99)
Y	Year with century, as decimal number
z	Time-zone name or abbreviation; no characters if time zone is unknown
Z	Same as z
\	Accept the following character as text instead of a formatting command
Additional Options when -ZZ (--NameFormat) is used:
F	The original filename (without the extension)
X	The original file extension (without the leading dot)
C	A 4-digit counter
c	A 2-digit counter

(New in Version 7.1x) If you enclose part of the filename in square brackets, those characters will be taken literally and not subject to replacement. E.g.
NAMEDATE -ZZ:"Sample_Y-m-d.X" somefile.txt
would result in something like 39Mon10PMle_2017-10-30.txt because the S, a, m and p of Sample would be intepreted as (S) seconds, (a) weekday, (m) month and (p) AM/PM. Enclosing the first part of the name in square brackets prevents NameDate from interpreting these characters, as shown below:
NAMEDATE -ZZ:"[Sample_]Y-m-d.X" somefile.txt
will rename somefile.txt to Sample_2017-10-30.txt.