Question 1

How do I use repren to swap multiple names at once?

Accepted Answer

Create a pattern file with tab-separated pairs for each swap, then run repren with --patterns. It applies all replacements simultaneously, allowing direct swaps like foo to bar and bar to foo without intermediate steps.

Question 2

Can repren handle case-insensitive replacements?

Accepted Answer

Yes, use the --preserve-case flag to automatically generate case variants (e.g., camelCase, snake_case) for patterns. This ensures consistent renaming across different casing conventions in your codebase.

Question 3

repren vs rnr for file renaming?

Accepted Answer

repren does both content replacement and file/directory renaming, while rnr only renames files. Use repren if you need to update file contents too; rnr is sufficient for pure renaming tasks with its own backup features.

Question 4

How to install repren on a system without uv?

Accepted Answer

Download the single repren.py script from GitHub, make it executable, and run it with Python 3.10+. No other dependencies are required, as it's self-contained and dependency-free.

Question 5

Does repren backup files before making changes?

Accepted Answer

Yes, by default it creates .orig backup files for all modified files. You can customize the suffix with --backup-suffix and later remove backups with --clean-backups or undo changes with --undo.

Question 6

How to use repren with AI agents like Claude Code?

Accepted Answer

Install it as a skill with 'uvx repren --install-skill', and agents can run commands with --format=json for machine-parseable output. The self-documenting --help flag provides all necessary usage details.

Question 7

What's the difference between repren and ast-grep?

Accepted Answer

repren is text-based and language-agnostic, ideal for bulk renaming of any files. ast-grep is AST-aware, suitable for semantic refactoring where code structure matters, but it's limited to supported languages and slower for simple text tasks.

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