diff --git a/xml/addFormatStringToPrefix.sh b/xml/addFormatStringToPrefix.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..644a6e14de934684746f8c938dc556106c1e75e4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/xml/addFormatStringToPrefix.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+sub_path=//OpenGeoSysProject/time_loop/output/prefix
+prefix_value=`xmlstarlet sel -t -v $sub_path $1`
+prefix_format_string=${prefix_value}_pcs_{:process}_ts_{:timestep}_t_{:time}
+
+xmlstarlet ed -u $sub_path -v $prefix_format_string $1 > /tmp/prefix.prj
+
+#format the result file
+xmlstarlet fo -s 4 /tmp/prefix.prj > ${1}