{"id":1147,"date":"2023-06-26T00:19:01","date_gmt":"2023-06-26T00:19:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.the-analytics.club\/?p=1147"},"modified":"2023-06-26T00:26:15","modified_gmt":"2023-06-26T00:26:15","slug":"rename-a-file-in-linux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.the-analytics.club\/rename-a-file-in-linux\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Rename a File in Linux Terminal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

You may be new to Linux. Thus even rival tasks like renaming files may seem complicated. But it’s not. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Renaming files in a command prompt is actually easy and more flexible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before we delve into the details, it’s important to understand that, unlike graphical user interfaces (GUIs)<\/a>, the Linux command-line interface (CLI) doesn’t have a ‘rename’ button. Instead, we will use a command named. mv<\/code> (move), which has more functionality than you might expect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This post not only covers the basics, but you’ll learn more extended uses of the mv command<\/a>, like renaming files in bulk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Renaming a Single File<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The most basic scenario involves renaming a single file. Let’s say you have a file named file1.txt<\/code> and you want to rename it to file2.txt<\/code>. Here’s how you’d do that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/circle><\/circle><\/circle><\/g><\/svg><\/span><\/path><\/path><\/svg><\/span>
mv<\/span> <\/span>file1.txt<\/span> <\/span>file2.txt<\/span><\/span><\/code><\/pre>Bash<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n
This command reads as: “Move (or rename) file1.txt<\/code> to file2.txt<\/code>.” Remember to replace file1.txt<\/code> and file2.txt<\/code> with your actual file names.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Renaming Files in a Different Directory<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Sometimes you want to rename a file located in a different directory. Let’s say you have a file in the directory \/home\/user\/documents<\/code> named file1.txt<\/code> and you want to rename it to file2.txt<\/code>. Here’s how to do it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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mv<\/span> <\/span>\/home\/user\/documents\/file1.txt<\/span> <\/span>\/home\/user\/documents\/file2.txt<\/span><\/span><\/code><\/pre>Bash<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n
This command says: “Move (or rename) the file1.txt<\/code> in the \/home\/user\/documents<\/code> directory to file2.txt<\/code> in the same directory.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Renaming and Moving Files<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The mv<\/code> command not only renames files but also moves them around. Let’s assume you want to rename a file and move it to a different directory simultaneously. If you have a file named file1.txt<\/code> in the directory \/home\/user\/documents<\/code> and you want to rename it to file2.txt<\/code> and move it to the directory \/home\/user\/downloads<\/code>, you would do the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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mv<\/span> <\/span>\/home\/user\/documents\/file1.txt<\/span> <\/span>\/home\/user\/downloads\/file2.txt<\/span><\/span><\/code><\/pre>Bash<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n
In this case, the command reads: “Move (or rename) file1.txt<\/code> from the \/home\/user\/documents<\/code> directory to file2.txt<\/code> in the \/home\/user\/downloads<\/code> directory.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Renaming Multiple Files<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Renaming multiple files can seem daunting, but with a combination of shell scripting and the mv command<\/a>, it’s manageable. Suppose you have several text files named file1.txt<\/code>, file2.txt<\/code>, and so on, and you want to rename them to newfile1.txt<\/code>, newfile2.txt<\/code>, etc. Here’s an example using a simple for loop:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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for<\/span> <\/span>file<\/span> <\/span>in<\/span> file<\/span>*<\/span>.txt<\/span>;<\/span> <\/span>do<\/span> <\/span><\/span>\n    <\/span>mv<\/span> <\/span>"<\/span>$file<\/span>"<\/span> <\/span>"<\/span>${<\/span>file<\/span>\/<\/span>file<\/span>\/<\/span>newfile<\/span>}<\/span>"<\/span><\/span>\ndone<\/span><\/span><\/code><\/pre>Bash<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n
In this script, the for<\/code> loop iterates over each file that matches the pattern file*.txt<\/code>. The mv<\/code> command then renames each file, replacing the ‘file’ part of the name with ‘newfile’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well, you can also do it in a single file<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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for<\/span> <\/span>file<\/span> <\/span>in<\/span> file<\/span>*<\/span>.txt<\/span>;<\/span> <\/span>do<\/span> <\/span>mv<\/span> <\/span>"<\/span>$file<\/span>"<\/span> <\/span>"<\/span>${<\/span>file<\/span>\/<\/span>file<\/span>\/<\/span>newfile<\/span>}<\/span>"<\/span>;<\/span> <\/span>done<\/span><\/span><\/code><\/pre>Bash<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Renaming Files with Special Characters<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Renaming files with spaces or special characters in their names requires some extra attention. You need to use quotes or escape characters to ensure that the command line<\/a> treats the name as a single entity. Suppose you have a file named file 1.txt<\/code> and want to rename it to file 2.txt<\/code>. Here’s how:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/circle><\/circle><\/circle><\/g><\/svg><\/span><\/path><\/path><\/svg><\/span>
mv<\/span> <\/span>'<\/span>file 1.txt<\/span>'<\/span> <\/span>'<\/span>file 2.txt<\/span>'<\/span><\/span><\/code><\/pre>Bash<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Or with escape characters:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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mv<\/span> <\/span>file<\/span>\\ <\/span>1<\/span>.txt<\/span> <\/span>file<\/span>\\ <\/span>2<\/span>.txt<\/span><\/span><\/code><\/pre>Bash<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n
In both these cases, the space is either escaped with a backslash<\/a> (\\<\/code>) or placed within quotes so the terminal knows to treat it as part of the filename rather than a separator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Renaming Files on a Remote Computer<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Renaming files on a remote Linux server is also quite straightforward, provided you have SSH<\/a> access. The SSH protocol lets you execute commands on a remote machine just as you would on your local system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let’s say you have SSH access to a remote machine, and you need to rename a file named file1.txt<\/code> to file2.txt<\/code> on that machine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
you can rename files on a remote server without explicitly logging into it by running a command directly via SSH. You provide the command you want to run as an argument to the ssh<\/code> command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/circle><\/circle><\/circle><\/g><\/svg><\/span><\/path><\/path><\/svg><\/span>
ssh<\/span> <\/span>username@server_ip<\/span> <\/span>'<\/span>mv \/path\/to\/oldfile \/path\/to\/newfile<\/span>'<\/span><\/span><\/code><\/pre>Bash<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n
The ssh username@server_ip<\/code> part logs you into the remote server. Then 'mv \/path\/to\/oldfile \/path\/to\/newfile'<\/code> part, which is enclosed in quotes, specifies the command that you want to run on the remote server.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Word of Caution<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Be careful when renaming files. If you accidentally rename a file to an existing filename, the original file will be overwritten without any warning. To prevent this, you can use the -i<\/code> (interactive) option, which prompts you before overwriting:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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mv<\/span> <\/span>-i<\/span> <\/span>file1.txt<\/span> <\/span>file2.txt<\/span><\/span><\/code><\/pre>Bash<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n
This command will ask for your confirmation before replacing file2.txt<\/code> with file1.txt<\/code>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Renaming files in the Linux terminal doesn’t have to be complicated. With the mv<\/code> command and a bit of understanding, you can rename single or multiple files, rename and move files, and handle filenames with special characters. Just remember to be cautious to avoid overwriting existing files. Happy coding!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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“Renaming files in Linux is easy with the ‘mv’ command. It allows renaming single\/multiple files, handling special characters, and prevents overwrites.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1148,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,1],"tags":[15,17,14,16],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":12,"label":"MLOps"},{"value":1,"label":"General"}],"post_tag":[{"value":15,"label":"bash"},{"value":17,"label":"command prompt"},{"value":14,"label":"linux"},{"value":16,"label":"terminal"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/www.the-analytics.club\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/3791185-1024x683.jpg",1024,683,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Thuwarakesh","author_link":"https:\/\/www.the-analytics.club\/author\/thuwarakesh\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":12,"name":"MLOps","slug":"mlops","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":12,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":13,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":12,"category_count":13,"category_description":"","cat_name":"MLOps","category_nicename":"mlops","category_parent":0},{"term_id":1,"name":"General","slug":"general","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":6,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":1,"category_count":6,"category_description":"","cat_name":"General","category_nicename":"general","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":15,"name":"bash","slug":"bash","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":17,"name":"command prompt","slug":"command-prompt","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":17,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":3,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":14,"name":"linux","slug":"linux","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":14,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":5,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":16,"name":"terminal","slug":"terminal","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":16,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-analytics.club\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1147"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-analytics.club\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-analytics.club\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-analytics.club\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-analytics.club\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1147"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-analytics.club\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1160,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-analytics.club\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1147\/revisions\/1160"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-analytics.club\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-analytics.club\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-analytics.club\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-analytics.club\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}