kicad-rename

Modified from original version: https://github.com/HarveyBates/kicad-rename-zsh

Rename KiCAD projects. Will handle files, directories and sub-directories. Skips .zip files.

This will handle components you have imported into your project if they are housed in the same directory as your .kicad_pro file and have used relative file imports.

Installation

Pre-requisites

Requires rename in your PATH from https://metacpan.org/dist/File-Rename

MacOS: install with brew (rename directory pkg):

brew install rename

Debian / Ubuntu:

apt install rename

Ready for use

You only need the Bash script kicad-rename.

Download and make the script executable

chmod +x kicad-rename

Usage

cd <your/kicad/project/>
kicad-rename -p previous_name -n new_name

Help

kicad-rename - Rename kicad project and directories.
 
kicad-rename  -p old_name -n new_name
 
options:
-h                      Show help information.
-p      (required)      Previous KiCAD project name.
-n      (required)      New KiCAD project name.

Theory of operation

https://docs.kicad.org/8.0/en/kicad/kicad.html#kicad_files_and_folders

Project

• *.kicad_pro

Schematic

• *.kicad_sch
• *.kicad_sym
• sym-lib-table

Board

• *.kicad_pcb - board design file
• *.pretty/ - footprint library (a folder)
• *.kicad_mod - footprint file
• *.kicad_dru - custom design rules
• fp-lib-table - footprint libraries known in the board editor

Common

• *.kicad_prl - local settings
• *.kicad_wks - Page description (border and title block)

It is not sufficient to simple rename the file names from a file manager. KiCad embeds the file name prefix (before the .kicad_XYZ extension) inside the PCB and Schematic in several places. Also, for example, this name shows up in exported STEP files of the 3D view of the board.

This tool first searches for and replaces all instances of "Old Name" (including spaces) and replaces it with "New Name" within all files. Then it proceeds to rename the file names themselves using the rename utility.

CAUTION: This tool blindly string-replaces "Old Name" inside files. This has a potential to cause file format corruption if "Old Name" is not unique and shows up in other places inside the files.