How to rename multiple files & filepaths at once on Mac without Terminal

Question

Apart from this topic which offers a small variety of code scripts to use on Terminal, I thought using available apps would be more user-friendly.

The Finder in macOS can rename multiple files only if they are under the same directory as described in the "Rename files, folders, and disks on Mac" Apple support webpage but I would like to rename files in different directories. I don't really have the time or the energy to go through deep coding on Terminal to make changes to thousands of files.

So here is my solution in the answer section. Please feel free to comment/add any other simplified solution to rename multiple file (& filepaths) at once on MacOS.

Other app alternatives (haven't tried them yet apart from the one below).

There is a built in method. Select the files you want, right click and select “Rename” A dialog will open with options to select your renaming conventions. — Allan, Commented May 26, 2023 at 20:16
I am aware of this apple support webpage but it does not allow renaming files in batches that are placed within different foldesr. It basically does not work for multiple folders (you have to search within every folder to rename the files. Also if you have copies elsewhere, you have to search for them individually too). — James69, Commented May 27, 2023 at 12:14
There's a reason that shell scripting still exists: because it is much more flexible and configurable that any app, where the interface has to cater to each possible option. However, it might help if you could provide some examples of the type of change and the scope (e.g. recursively through the hierarchy from some point, or just "all files"). The chances are that this could be done with one line in the Terminal. — benwiggy, Commented Feb 25 at 12:28
To remove a monstruous number of files, all you need is find with the -exec option. No GUI will ever be as efficient and versatile as such a simple command. Moreover, it's an easy case to start gaining in skill. — dan, Commented Feb 25 at 13:55

James69 · Accepted Answer · 2023-05-26 16:54:06Z

I'm currently using Transnomino (hard to find decent functional ones) and this is how I used the app to rename filenames and filepaths :

Open the app
Select Full Path (in this example) & set the replace criteria to Regular Expression
Click on the + button on the right then, in the Find: entry, double-click on One or more entry
Set the Count to 1 (for 1 occurrence). Then add specific characters you need to remove from file name and filepath in Custom Characters, in this example : ~!@#$%^&*()_+?[:"<>|]
Return to main app window and fill in the Replace: field with what you would like to replace the specific characters mentioned above with (if you need to replace them with nothing, just leave it blank)
Open your Finder folder and drag the folders/files you want to apply this to
Note the files that are grayed and the others: when it's gray, the app doesn't need to change anything (= none of the specific characters are present in filename or filepath). All the others CAN be renamed.
If you're satisfied with it, just click Rename. Et voilà