scrapz.txt~

filename:
	The.Show.S01E01.The.Episode.Title.avi

parse string:
	%show_name%.S%season%E%episode%.%episode_title%.%extension%

rename mask:
	%season%%episode% - %episode_title%.%extension%

algorithm brainstorm:
	parse the filename splitting on character sets which don't appear between matched '%' in the parse string
	split the file on above character sets, storing splits as parse string variables
		this could be done without regex by recursively splitting the string
			splitTokens = ('.S','E','.','.')
			
	user inputs naming mask variables + regex
	create a dictionary entry for each parse string variable
		key = parse string variable ( e.g. %season%)
		value = related string split in file name
	parse naming mask string into dictionary of variables + regex
	parse renaming mask and create renamed files dictionary
		key = old file name
		value = new file name
		one (sloppy) algo for doing this is to simply replace every occurrence of a namingMaksk key with its related value
			this should be improved later to only replace those keys present in the renaming mask
	rename file according to values in rename_mask dictionary
		new dictionary with entries with values for naming mask variables
		must parse each file name using naming mask dictionary first
		results stored in renaming mask dictionary

warning conditions:
	no splitting tokens given -- i.e. all mask variables passed
		e.g. %show_name%%season%%extension%
	incomplete parse string variable definitions
		i.e. odd number of '%' in parse string

complications:
	need to write a parser for the parse string variables
	parse string variables may not be the first substrings in the file name
	writing the regex using the split

version ideas:
	revise the app to be OO
		rn object operates on a list of files
		file list is internal to the object?
		see class interface section
	v1 is just a simple regex renamer
		takes a regex string and a list of files
		outputs an example of the resulting rename
		prompts user for continue or abandon
		if continue, rename all files according to result
	variation on the above:
		regex string assigns parse variables to regex, e.g.:
			"%season% = S(\d{2}) || %episode% = E(\d{2})"
		split the regex string on the separator "||"
		for each split regex string:
			split each substring on "=", then trim
			add %parser var% to dictionary as key with regex as value
		iterate over dictionary keys, using their values as regex to search through file name for matches
		create second dictionary with same keys, but actual match values
		rename file according to rename mask

ideas for extensions:
	pass a file which contains formatted file names
		identify search string in file name and rename matching files using names in input file
	expand the app to become a broad filename utility
		replace substrings in all files (e.g. "." -> " ")
	maintain a log file for all rename operations
		this should be on by default, and can be read back into the app to reverse renamings

description of the program's objectives:
	the program should take a list of files and rename them, according to a renaming mask including user-defined variables
	the program should accept, as input, a list of similarly-named files to be renamed
	the program should also accept, as input, a string defining variables comprised of regex expressions matching
		substrings of the file name
	the program should accept, as input, a string defining a renaming mask which uses a combination of the
		variables and user-input strings
	the program should rename the list of files in accordance with the renaming mask

class interface notes:
	properties:
		file list
		naming mask
			??should this be abstracted into a class of its own??
		renaming mask
	methods:
		set file list
		set matching variables
		set renaming mask