I have some files and directories and I want to rename those. How can I rename them? or are there any alternative methods? Linux provides different tools and commands in order to rename files and directories. In this tutorial, we will examine mv and rename commands.
Syntax
The basic and most used method to rename files is using the mv command. Below you can find the mv command syntax.
mv OPTION OLD_FILENAME NEW_FILENAME- OPTION is optional and can be used for different options like verbose mode, warn before the move, etc.
- OLD_FILENAME is the current file or folder name which will be changed to NEW_FILENAME.
- NEW_FILENAME is the new file or folder name which will be set.
Linux rename file is easy. As we see the syntax is easy for simple rename operation with mv . In this example, we will rename the file named live into dead.
$ mv live deadRename Files With Full Path
We can use the full path while renaming files. In this example, we will rename the file named dead into live .
$ mv /home/ismail/dead /home/ismail/liveList Renamed Files
After renaming we may want to see files by listing them. We will use ls to list files.
$ ls
Ask Before Overwrite Existing File
While moving new-file-name may already exist. In this situation mv command by default overwrites. To prevent overwrite we can provide -i option to ask before overwriting.
$ mv -i live deadVerbose Mode
While renaming we can output verbosely to during rename operation.
$ mv -v live dead
Rename Command
There is a command named rename which whole purpose is rename files and directories. Rename command has the following syntax.
rename 'S/OLDNAME/NEWNAME/' FILESOLDNAMEis matched oldnameNEWNAMEwill be set according to OLDNAMEFILESthose files we want to look OLDNAME
In this example, we will change those files who have nix in their named into x .
$ rename 's/est/x/' *Specify File and Folder Names
We can also specify the files and directories we want to rename. In this example, we will rename files and directories those ends with .txt
$ rename 's/est/x/' *.txt