# Preferences - Replacements

Replacements may optionally be used when renaming files or while performing case modifications in the Multi Field Editor or via actions.

Every replacement item consists of a from pattern and a to, possibly empty, pattern.

Certain characters are hard coded for replacement when renaming files. Currently only : and /. These hard coded from patterns are always replaced with the possibly empty pattern specified in the General Preferences Invalid character substitution field. If for any reason you want a different to pattern for each of the hard coded values, create standard replacement items for them.

To create a new replacement item, click the + button under the rightmost table.

To remove new replacement items, select one or more items in the table and click the - button under the rightmost table.

To modify a replacement item's From field, select a single item in the table and click the ✎ button under the rightmost table. Optionally you can click directly on the field.

To modify a replacement item's To field, select a single item in the table and click the ✏︎ button under the rightmost table. This will give you a popup window in which you can edit the value. Optionally you can click directly on the field and do an inline edit.

In order to make it easier to manipulate a wide variety of files, replacements may be saved in sets. The table on the left of the display displays the defined sets.

To create a new set click on the + button under the leftmost table.

To delete a set, select the sets you want to delete and click on the - button under the leftmost table.

To duplicate a set, select the set you want to duplicate, and click on the ➡ button under the leftmost table.

To rename a set, select the set and click on the ✎ button under the leftmost table.

The set identified by ✓ character is the default replacement set. To make a different set the default, select the set and choose Set as Default Replacements Set from the context menu displayed via a right click. The default replacement set is the set used by case transformations and rename functions. If you want more granularity you can set separate defaults for case transformations and rename functions. You can use the context menu to specify different sets where C identifies the default for case transformations and R identifies the default for rename functions.

The Re-encode action statement's Fold Characters mode replaces various Unicode characters with their ISO-8859-1 equivalents. The set identified with an F can be used to override the default substitutions. You set this special status from the context menu. If you wish to create a set filled with the default fold substitutions you can do so via the Create a Set With the Default Fold Character Values context menu item. Note that the created set will not automatically be supplied the special Fold Character status. More information on the formatting and usage of this set can be found in Fold Characters Substitutions.

Typically, replacements are case sensitive. If you want the from field to be considered case insensitive, prefix the field with: \~

The from string associated with a replacement is typically a simple text string. However you can specify that a replacement is only to be made if the from string is at the beginning of the source string, follows a newline character or follows a list of supplied characters. Note that when searching backwards for one of the previous conditions, space characters are ignored. The special characters are specified by starting the from string with the sequence \{characters\}. For example a replacement of:

> from: \{.-([<{:&'"?!/\}the (ends with a space)
> to: The (ends with a space)

will change the word the to The as long as it is at the beginning of a string, after a newline character or after one of .-( [ < { : & ' " ? ! /

If you want to use \~ and \{ sequences, the \~ sequence must come first and be immediately followed by the \{ sequence.

Rename Templates

Rename Exceptions

Alphabetic Case Transformations