shuffle_filenames

Simple script to randomize the names of files in a directory (by randomly swapping with other filenames in the folder).

⚠️ Warning: while there's a "lock file" to try and make sure the program is run intentionally, this system is not foolproof - please read all the documentation and use the script with care! Randomly shuffling filenames is usually very bad!

Usage

The script uses a special file called _shuffle-lock to guard against unintended invocation. The file must be in the directory where you want to shuffle filenames and must have two parameters in it, token and dir:

• token is an arbitrary string that must be the same in the __shuffle-lock file and the command line argument
• dir must be the directory you want to shuffle (and where the _shuffle-lock is located)

The script takes two corresponding command line arguments (token and dir), which must match the values in the _shuffle_lock file.

Example _shuffle-lock file

dir: C:\path\to\folder\to\randomize
token: token_value

Caveats and warnings

• The script currently skips files that end in ".exe" or start with a "." or "_"
• The script is not currently designed to work with folders containing a mix of file types. It will currently swap files without regard to their extensions, so if there are multiple file types you'll probably end up with some files that don't work anymore.

Calling the script

In Python:

python shuffle_filenames.py --token token_value --dir C:\path\to\folder\to\randomize

Executable package (downloadable from releases):

shuffle_filenames --token token_value --dir C:\path\to\folder\to\randomize

Build

To build an executable with PyInstaller: # install pyinstaller if it isn't already installed https://github.com/ktoodev/shuffle-filenames

# run pyinstaller 
python -m PyInstaller --onefile 'shuffle_filenames.py'