windows - Rename each file an incrementing integer

I have a directory of mp3 files, sorted in order of Date created:

newest.mp3
new.mp3

old.mp3
older.mp3
oldest.mp3

I want to rename each file in this directory with a new name including an integer value that increases for each file (starting at the newest file):

newest.mp3 --> new_name_1.mp3
new.mp3    --> new_name_2.mp3
old.mp3    --> new_name_3.mp3

older.mp3  --> new_name_4.mp3
oldest.mp3 --> new_name_5.mp3

How can I do this automatically (without needing to manually rename each file)?

Specifically, I'm looking for a command to essentially do this:

sort each file by date created
i = 1

for each fil in dir:
    rename file: new_name_$i++.mp3

Answer

Here's a way to do that

setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
set "count=1"
for /f "delims=*" %%f in ('dir /b /o:-d /tc *.mp3') do (
    ren %%f new_name_!count!.mp3

    set /a count+=1
)

• dir /b: output the files in bare format (only file names)


• /o:-d: sort by date, newest first


• /tc: sort using creation date. You may want to change C to A or W for access time and modification time

Then each line of the output is read using for /f

To make it work for any directory, change the loop to

for /f "usebackq delims=*" %%f in (`dir /b /o:-d /tc "%1\*.mp3"`)

and pass the directory in the first parameter

To get help for any commands in Windows cmd, just use /?