Rename files on disk with t-sql - sql-server

Question

I am using T-SQL
I have a few excel files located here: C:\MyFiles\
I want to remove all the apostrophes in the file names in that directory.
Now to remove apostrophes one would use code like this.
update MyTable
set FileName= replace(FileName, '''', '')
If I had all the file name in the DB it would be easy to do with the code above. But I need to update the file names that are located on disk.
How would I go about doing this with T-SQL?
It must be T-SQL because I need to add it to my existing code in my Stored Procedure.

Answer 1

SET NOCOUNT ON;
CREATE TABLE #FileList
(
FileID INT IDENTITY(1, 1)
,Line VARCHAR(512)
)
CREATE TABLE #temp
(
isFileThere BIT
,isDirectory BIT
,parentDirExists BIT
)
DECLARE #Command VARCHAR(1024)
, #RowCount INT
, #counter INT
, #FileName VARCHAR(1024)
, #FileExists BIT
SET #Command = 'dir C:\MyFiles\ /A-D /B'
PRINT #Command
INSERT #FileList
EXEC master.dbo.xp_cmdshell #Command
DELETE FROM #FileList
WHERE Line IS NULL
SELECT #RowCount = COUNT(*)
FROM [#FileList]
SET #counter = 1
WHILE ( #counter <= #RowCount )
BEGIN
SELECT #FileName = [Line]
FROM [#FileList]
WHERE [FileID] = #counter
SET #Command = 'C:\MyFiles\' + #FileName + ''
PRINT #Command
INSERT [#temp]
EXEC master.dbo.xp_fileExist #Command
SELECT #FileExists = [isFileThere]
FROM [#temp]
IF #FileExists = 1
AND CHARINDEX('''', #FileName) > 0
SET #Command = 'REN "C:\MyFiles\' + #FileName + '" "'
+ REPLACE(#FileName, '''', '') + '"'
ELSE
SET #Command = ''
SET #counter = #counter + 1
PRINT #Command
IF LEN(#Command) > 0
EXEC master.dbo.xp_cmdshell #Command
END
DROP TABLE #FileList
DROP TABLE [#temp]

Answer 2

First you need to enable xp_cmdshell
EXEC sp_configure 'show advanced options', 1
GO
RECONFIGURE
GO
EXEC sp_configure 'xp_cmdshell', 1
GO
RECONFIGURE
GO
Then you can use sp_cmdshell to retrieve the files names from the directory
Declare #Directory TABLE (Files Varchar(MAX))
Declare #File TABLE (Name varchar(MAX))
INSERT INTO #Directory
EXEC XP_CMDSHELL 'DIR "D:"'
Insert into #File
Select reverse(LEFT(reverse(Files),charindex(' ' ,reverse(Files)))) from #Directory
Select * from #FILE
Now you get the file names in the table variable #FILE and use function like replace or your own custom function to replace apostrophes with the exact filename

Answer 3

Try this it will work for you
1) Create a sp as mentioned below
CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.ListPathsXML
#FileSpec VARCHAR(2000),
#order VARCHAR (80) = '/O-D',--sort by date time oldest first
#xmlFileList XML OUTPUT
AS
DECLARE #myfiles TABLE (MyID INT IDENTITY(1,1) PRIMARY KEY, FullPath VARCHAR(2000))
DECLARE #CommandLine VARCHAR(4000)
IF #order IS NOT NULL -- abort if the order is silly
BEGIN
SELECT #CommandLine =LEFT('dir "' + #FileSpec + '" /A-D /B /S '+#order,4000)
INSERT INTO #MyFiles (FullPath)
EXECUTE xp_cmdshell #CommandLine
DELETE FROM #MyFiles WHERE fullpath IS NULL
OR fullpath = 'File Not Found'
END
SET #xmlFileList = (SELECT fullpath FROM #MyFiles
FOR
XML PATH('thefile'),
ROOT('thefiles'),
TYPE)
2) and then give a name of directory where you want to replace the name of files
DECLARE #LotsOfText NVARCHAR(MAX),
#ii INT,
#iiMax INT,
#File VARCHAR(2000),
#Command NVARCHAR(4000)
DECLARE #files TABLE (MyID INT IDENTITY(1,1) PRIMARY KEY, [Path] VARCHAR(2000))
DECLARE #FileList XML
EXECUTE ListPathsXML 'D:\QAconfig\',
DEFAULT , #XMLFileList = #FileList OUTPUT
INSERT INTO #files(path)
SELECT x.thefile.value('fullpath[1]', 'varchar(2000)') AS [path]
FROM #FileList.nodes('//thefiles/thefile') AS x ( thefile )
--don't look at the current errorlog!
SELECT #ii=1, #iiMax=MAX(MyID) FROM #Files
WHILE #ii<=#iiMax
BEGIN
SELECT #File= [path] FROM #files WHERE MyID=#ii
print #File
SELECT #command='EXEC master..xp_cmdshell' + '''MOVE '+ Replace(#FILE,'''','''''') + ' ' +REPLACE(#FILE,'''','') +''''
print #command
EXECUTE sp_ExecuteSQL #command--, N'#lotsOfText nvarchar(max) output ',#lotsoftext output
SELECT #ii=#ii+1
END