How to rename a file?

juanb · 03-19-2003, 08:38 AM

what is the command to rename a file ?

thanks .

NGene · 03-19-2003, 08:47 AM

mv

You use it like: mv oldfile newfile

That's what you get as a result when you enter the words "renaming", "files" and "linux" into google...

stikboy · 03-19-2003, 10:48 AM

There is also a rename command, although I can't find a whole lot of info on it

http://unix.about.com/library/tips/bltip052.htm

that's the first page I found that looked useful, but do some digging if you need it - unlike mv, rename can do wildcards (i.e. rename *.txt *.html) but it's been awhile and I don't remember if that's the exact sytax or not

kublador · 03-19-2003, 11:12 AM

how do you move files then?

nxny · 03-19-2003, 11:20 AM

same command.
mv oldfile /new/path/newfile

As long as you can see the file and its name as detached entities, a move and a rename are basically the same operation, aren't they? You are making a new directory entry somewhere in the directory-tree and attaching the file's inode to it.