Bdtyktl

What is the best way to replace all consecutive characters such as _+-."'? from a directory and all sub directory's names using GNU bash, version 4.3, using tools awk, sed, Perl rename or find?

AS suggested by @Ralf to rephrase:

The example would be to rename directories from

inital_situation
.
├── dir1---FooFoo---xFoo.FOO
│   └── file1---FooFoo---xFoo.FOO.mp4
├── dir2+++FooFOO___xFoo.FOO
│   └── file2___FooFOO___xFoo.FOO.mp4
├── dir3...FooFOO...xFoo...FOO
│   └── file3...FooFOO...xFoo...FOO.mp4
├── dir4._-FOO._-xFoo._-FOO
│   └── file4._-FOO._-xFoo._-FOO.mp4
├── dir5+++FOO_-_FOO_-_FOO_-_FOO_-_FOO_-_FOO_-_xFoo
│   └── file5_-_FOO_-_FOO_-_FOO_-_FOO_-_FOO_-_FOO_-_xFoo.mp4
├── file1---FooFoo---xFoo.FOO.mp4
├── file2+++FooFOO___xFoo.FOO.mp4
├── file3...FooFOO...xFoo...FOO.mp4
├── file4._-FOO._-xFoo._-FOO.mp4
├── file5+++FOO_-_FOO_-_FOO_-_FOO_-_FOO_-_FOO_-_xFoo.mp4
├── xFoo_-[xFoo]_-[dir6]
│   └── xFoo_-[xFoo]-file6.mp4
└── xFoo_-[xFoo]-file6.mp4

to

expected_results
.
├── dir1-FooFoo-xFoo-FOO
│   └── file1-FooFoo-xFoo-FOO.mp4
├── dir2-FooFOO-xFoo-FOO
│   └── file2-FooFOO-xFoo-FOO.mp4
├── dir3-FooFOO-xFoo-FOO
│   └── file3-FooFOO-xFoo-FOO.mp4
├── dir4-FOO-xFoo-FOO
│   └── file4-FOO-xFoo-FOO.mp4
├── dir5-FOO-FOO-FOO-FOO-FOO-FOO-xFoo
│   └── file5-FOO-FOO-FOO-FOO-FOO-FOO-xFoo.mp4
├── file1-FooFoo-xFoo-FOO.mp4
├── file2-FooFOO-xFoo-FOO.mp4
├── file3-FooFOO-xFoo-FOO.mp4
├── file4-FOO-xFoo-FOO.mp4
├── file5-FOO-FOO-FOO-FOO-FOO-FOO-xFoo.mp4
├── xFoo-xFoo-dir6
│   └── xFoo-xFoo-file6.mp4
└── xFoo-xFoo-file6.mp4

The following 2 examples from this post works well for renaming directories, sub directories and files.

find -name "* *" -type d | rename 's/ /_/g'    # do the directories first

find -name "* *" -type f | rename 's/ /_/g'

This is able to handle multiple layers of files and directories in a single bound

find . -depth -name "* *" -execdir rename 's/_/-/g' "{}" ; 

I have attempted several versions to replace or remove certain characters.

Replace dots and replace underscores

for f in *; do fn=`echo $f | sed 's/(.*).([^.]*)$/1n2/;s/./-/g;s/n/./g'`; mv $f $fn; done

The following will remove brackets and parenthesis

rename 's/[//g' * ; rename 's/]//g' *

rename 's/(//g' * ; rename 's/)//g' *

Initial situation:

$ find .

.

./foo---foo...foo

./foo---foo...foo/foo...foo...foo

./foo---foo...foo/foo...foo...foo/file..name...name.extension

./foo---foo...foo/foo-+-+-+-+-+X

./foo---foo...foo/foo-+-+-+-+-+X/07. Testing.mov

./foo---foo...foo/foo------------foo

./foo---foo...foo/foo------------foo/01. Introduction.mov

Now execute:

$ find . -depth -execdir rename -E 's%^./%%' -E "s/[-_.+"'?]{2,}/-/g" {} ;

./07. Testing.mov not renamed: 07. Testing.mov already exists

./01. Introduction.mov not renamed: 01. Introduction.mov already exists

./. not renamed: . already exists

Result:

$ find .

.

./foo-foo-foo

./foo-foo-foo/foo-foo-foo

./foo-foo-foo/foo-foo-foo/file-name-name.extension

./foo-foo-foo/foo-foo

./foo-foo-foo/foo-foo/01. Introduction.mov

./foo-foo-foo/foo-X

./foo-foo-foo/foo-X/07. Testing.mov

Your question should really contain examples like I added with "Initial situation:" and "Result:". Only that way anyone is able to understand what you want. Without it, it is just guessing game.