Old thread, but posting a possible "shortcut", for future readers.
I have needed to do this, also.
What I did was to add CHARACTER TRANSLATIONS [Special, 14] that "removed" acronyms or abbreviations that commonly occurred, but weren't wanted.
So, using the OP's examples:
BBC.Mexico.Earths.Festival.of.Life.3of3.Burning.North.720p.HDTV.x264.AAC.MVGroup.org.mkv
Child-of-Satan-720p-bluray-x264-rovers[etHD].mkv
I would add the following CHARACTER TRANSLATIONS [Special, 14] to a favorite settings file:
BBC.Mexico.Earths.Festival.of.Life.3of3.Burning.North
.720p.HDTV.x264.AAC.MVGroup.org.mkv
B,B,C,.=.
.,7,2,0,p=.
.,H,D,T,V=.
.,x,2,6,4,.=.
.,A,A,C,.=.
.,M,V,G,r,o,u,p,.,o,r,g,.=.
Child-of-Satan
-720p-bluray-x264-rovers[etHD].mkv
-,7,2,0,p,-=-
-,b,l,u,r,a,y,-=-
-,x,2,6,4,-=-
-,r,o,v,e,r,s,=-
[,e,t,H,D,]=
Things I know about the OP's files:
- most filenames use the same exact abbreviations... so "720p" will almost invariably have the "p" at the end, "x264" would never be just "264", etc.
- Abbreviations/acronyms will (almost) always be the same, case-wise... so "AAC" would almost never be "Aac".
- When a "name" like "MVGroup.org" appears, it will always look that same exact way... capitalization and the "dot org".
Some notes about what I did and why:
For the first example, I included the leading and trailing periods/dots for each string, then added ONE of those back, as the replacement.
This makes sure the string isn't found inside a larger word (it must start and end with a "."')
and it also ensures that the dot that separates the file extension from the filename is never removed.
For the second example, I did the same thing with the dashes, but here, my reason was more obscure:
(note: this reason also holds for the first example, but it's not as easily noticed because of the period separating the file extension)
I added one dash back in, to keep the delineation between segments.
This is so that the filename will retain the separators between segments, for those segments that remain. This allows the filename to be processed again, using more specific constraints.
Lastly, it took me a loooong time to learn how to use CHARACTER TRANSLATIONS [Special, 14]... so to help others avoid some of my blunders, do this:
Add your character translations to a setup, then save it as a favorite. Name it something like "Char Translations" or similar.
Use that favorite as your "main list"... any new translations should get added here and any corrections be made here, as well.
When you need to use them, just open the favorite, copy the list, and paste it into a NEW setup.
If, after playing around, you've found you've edited the CHARACTER TRANSLATIONS that you'd pasted in, then COPY those and paste them back into the favorite (your main list). Otherwise, whatever edits you made will be lost the next time you use them.
(There are other ways to "keep a master list of char translations", but at least knowing one way will help you save work, that you've sometimes spent hours working on.)
HTH...
~spammy