rename 's/^OLDPREFIX//' *

Replace one prefix with another:

rename 's/^OLDPREFIX/NEWPREFIX/' *

This uses regex:

• ^ = start of filename
• OLDPREFIX = what you’re removing
• NEWPREFIX = what you’re adding

📌 Works on most modern Linux distros, but there are two incompatible versions of rename (Perl vs util-linux). The above form is the Perl version.

To check which one you have:

rename --version

✅ Option 2: Portable Bash (works everywhere, no dependencies)

Remove a prefix:

for f in OLDPREFIX*; do mv "$f" "${f#OLDPREFIX}"; done

Replace prefix with a new one:

for f in OLDPREFIX*; do mv "$f" "NEWPREFIX${f#OLDPREFIX}"; done

This uses shell parameter expansion:

• ${f#OLDPREFIX} = remove OLDPREFIX from the start of the filename only

This is 100% safe, predictable, and distro-agnostic.

🛑 Dry Run (Highly Recommended First)

See what will happen before renaming:

for f in OLDPREFIX*; do echo mv "$f" "${f#OLDPREFIX}"; done

If it prints what you expect → remove echo and run it for real.

✅ TL;DR

Use this and you’re done:

for f in OLDPREFIX*; do mv "$f" "${f#OLDPREFIX}"; done

If you want, you can paste:

• One real example filename
• The prefix you want removed or changed

I’ll give you the exact zero-risk command outright.