Thanks for responding.

My scenario is that I have many thousands of clipart files, and I need to have them named according to a particular naming convention.. They are listed in main directories of 0100, 0200, 0300 etc. Beneath this are directories such as 0101, 0102, 0201 etc.
I want a script (or routine) that I can parse to that will allow me to rename all files in that directory to a particular format - preferably only renaming the non-conforming files so that the process is quicker. The routing I used before noe was called SEQ.COM and I parsed info like this: SEQ c:\clipart\0100 0100 0000
The first parameter was the directory and the second was the mask for the file name. The third was the starting number, but I am using four digits of hex starting ot 0000.
eg In c:\clipart\0100 is many files with the name of 0100_0000.jpg, 0100_01.jpg... 0100_0bcd.jpg etc - the name being a sequential 4-digit hex number according to the same directory name.
The mask (of the filename) doesnt need to be set in the parameters, but can be coded directly into the routine as it wont change much.

If possible, I'd like to have an option where it was verbose - showing me how many files it had to rename and how far through it was - detailed progress, but this is less important. I was thinking of a switch

This is the first of several routines I would like to use, and as previously discussed, will be happy to pay somebody to write them for me, or contribute the money to the authors of Kixtart.

Please advise.
Greg Hains

PS: Thanks Lonkero -very helpful.