Iterate over multiple shapefiles, changing year from "2014" to "2015" in file name

Question

I have about 50 shapefiles I would like to change each of their file names which contains "2014" to "2015". I would like to use a python script but have not been able to figure out how to do it. I have tried using the sample script from Esri but to no avail. I've tried to use other examples I've found Looping through list of shapefiles to rename them using ArcPy? but unable to work it into my problem.

import os  
import arcpy  
arcpy.env.workspace =   
fcs = arcpy.ListFeatureClasses(fc)  
if fc.contains("4"):  
  arcpy.Rename_management("5")  

Answer 1

You could also avoid arcpy all together:

import os

os.chdir(r'C:\Set_to_your_directory')
substring = '2014'

files = os.listdir(os.curdir)
for file in files:
    if substring in file:
        file_new = file.replace("2014","2015")
        os.rename(file, file_new)

This will replace "2014" with "2015" for any file in a folder. It is also possible to place filters for the relevant shapefile extensions.

Answer 2

You can search for a substring in a string using if (substring) in (string), and then use string.replace() to replace the value you find.

import arcpy, os  
arcpy.env.workspace = r"d:\Temp\SE\RenShapes"
fcs = arcpy.ListFeatureClasses("*.shp") 
for fc in fcs: 
    if "2014" in fc:
        x = fc.replace("2014", "2015")
        arcpy.Rename_management(fc, x)

This will replace 2014 with 2015 in any shapefile name that contains it.