Batch renaming of columns in attribute table for shapefiles using QGIS

Question

I have 11 shapefiles that shows administrative areas for 11 different countries. For each country, I have 448 columns in the attribute table that records average rainfall data. They look like this:

I would like to change the header of each column displayed here. So "RFEb1_me_1" will be renamed to "JAN1983", "RFEb2_me_2" will be renamed to "FEB1983"...and all the way to the 448th column, "APR2020". I am planning on making the same changes to all 11 attribute tables.

How can I make this happen using QGIS (PyQGIS)?

In answer to @Kadir's question, here's a screenshot of some of my last columns.

Answer 1

Use this script. As a precaution, backup the shapefile first.

#generate monthyear
months = ["JAN","FEB","MAR","APR","MAY","JUN","JUL","AUG","SEP","OCT","NOV","DEC"]
years = range(1983, 2022)
month_year = [f"{month}{year}" for year in years for month in months]
# month_year = ["JAN1983", "FEB1983", ... , "DEC2021"]
    
layer = iface.activeLayer()
layer.startEditing()

for field in layer.fields():
    # n = split("_")  # returns ["RFEb12", "m", "1"]
    # n = n[0].split("b") # returns ["RFE", "12"]
    # n = int(n[1]) # 12
    #
    # "RFEb12_m_1" -> "DEC1983"

    if not field.name().startswith('RFEb'):
        continue
    
    n = int(field.name().split("_")[0].split("b")[1])

    idx = layer.fields().indexFromName(field.name())
    layer.renameAttribute(idx, month_year[n-1])
        
layer.commitChanges()

Answer 2

I would create a clear new layer, with the correct attribute names. And then use the plugin « Append features to layer », to select which column goes where ! Or export the table to Excel with the ID, change what you need in Excel, reload the table and make a join with the ID…