In Renaming files from command line we saw how to rename files using Rename command. We can use Rename command to rename directories too. See the syntax below.
Rename dir_oldname dir_newname
Example:
G:\data>mkdir dir1 G:\data>dir /b dir1 G:\data>rename dir1 dir2 G:\data>dir /b dir2 G:\data>
Note that, with rename command, we can’t move the files to another drive or directory. This command just renames the existing file/folder and does not create a new file. That is why it does not accept full path for the target file name. If you try to do that you will get the error – “The syntax of the command is incorrect.”
Example:
C:\docs>ren 1.txt c:\docs\2.txt The syntax of the command is incorrect.
The below rename command works fine.
C:\docs>ren c:\docs\1.txt 2.txt C:\docs>dir /b 2.txt
We can also use ren (the short form of rename) for rename operations. Both Ren and Rename refer to the same command.
This command can be used to rename files or directories on all Windows OS editions i.e Windows 2000, XP, Vista and Windows 7.
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Can we use wildcats when renaming directories
rename *.txt *.doc
will definetely work
it does accept wild cards.
Thanks for correcting me Sumith. Removed my earlier comment.
how do you deal with spaces in the directory you need to rename?
Specify the directory name in quotes. See below examples
ren "directory with spaces" newdir
ren "directory with spaces" "another directory with spaces"
In Win 7 you cannot rename directories! It just returns “Access denied”
Please ignore my previous comment. rename works fine.
What causes Access denied exactly? I somehow got it to work. I used rename then I tried again move and move was working after that. I have no idea what I was doing wrong because I tried everything I did at first with move and it didn’t give me access denied again.
Of course I did start the command prompt with administrator rights (well at first I didn’t but I restarted it with admin rights and it was still giving me the same error)
thanks