How do I rename a directory via the command line?

Question

I have got the directory /home/user/oldname and I want to rename it to /home/user/newname. How can I do this in a terminal?

See also: [How to move a directory](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/868198/how-to-move-a-directory) — kenorb, Sep 19 '14 at 22:36
use `mv` and don't use `/` in end. Because your content will go inside it. — Tamil, Nov 07 '20 at 08:08

score 1014 · Accepted Answer · edited Nov 12 '13 at 12:50

1014

mv /home/user/oldname /home/user/newname

edited Nov 12 '13 at 12:50

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answered Aug 08 '11 at 17:10

Rafał Cieślak

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Related http://www.brighthub.com/computing/linux/articles/20667.aspx – N.N. Aug 08 '11 at 17:23
Cool article. That's exactly the point. – Rafał Cieślak Aug 09 '11 at 09:02
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This will not work if the new name is already an existing directory. Instead, it will move the old directory inside the new one. – cxrodgers Apr 17 '14 at 04:56
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If the directory name is the same with capitalization you will get `No such file or directory`. To avoid this do something like `mv /home/user/Folder /home/user/temp; mv /home/user/temp/ /home/user/folder`. – DutGRIFF Dec 05 '14 at 16:30
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@cxrodgers: [pass `--no-target-directory` (`-T`)](http://askubuntu.com/a/763915/3712), to avoid treating `newname` as a target directory. – jfs Dec 07 '16 at 04:52
@jfs: I've been wondering what that option meant for a long time, as the `--help` description isn't particularly useful. Glad to finally know. – drmuelr Jun 29 '18 at 17:18
It doesn't work if you want to capitalize a folder on a case-insensitive filesystem (likely on MacOS). `mv $PWD/analisys $PWD/Analisys` results in `mv: cannot move '/Users/sixtykeys/Projects/murphy/tmp/analisys' to a subdirectory of itself, '/Users/sixtykeys/Projects/murphy/tmp/Analisys/analisys'` – acorello Feb 13 '19 at 13:08
The “_target directory_” on the man page means “_the directory into which files will be copied_.” As @jfs said, you don’t want to copy _into_ a directory in this case; always use `--no-target-directory` for safety. – Константин Ван Mar 29 '23 at 09:10
Is there any special reason you used full (absolute) pathnames? – PJ Brunet May 21 '23 at 03:14

score 158 · Answer 2 · edited Feb 01 '22 at 05:10

158

mv can do two jobs.

It can move files or directories
It can rename files or directories

To just rename a file or directory type this in Terminal:

mv old_name new_name

with space between the old and new names.

To move a file or directory type this in Terminal.

mv file_name ~/Desktop

it will move the file to the desktop.

edited Feb 01 '22 at 05:10

Zanna

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answered Apr 21 '13 at 13:58

shadi

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score 54 · Answer 3 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:37

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mv -T /home/user/oldname /home/user/newname

That will rename the directory if the destination doesn't exist or if it exists but it's empty. Otherwise it will give you an error.

If you do this instead:

mv /home/user/oldname /home/user/newname

One of two things will happen:

If /home/user/newname doesn't exist, it will rename /home/user/oldname to /home/user/newname
If /home/user/newname exists, it will move /home/user/oldname into /home/user/newname, i.e. /home/user/newname/oldname

Source: How to decide that mv moves into a directory rather than replacing directory?

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:37

Community

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answered Apr 27 '16 at 18:31

bmaupin

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Doesn't work if you want to capitalize the directory name in a case-insensitive filesystem (likely on MacOS). `mv -T $PWD/analisys $PWD/Analisys` returns `mv: '/Users/sixtykeys/Projects/murphy/tmp/analisys' and '/Users/sixtykeys/Projects/murphy/tmp/Analisys' are the same file`. I worked around this by using an intermediate name (i.e. `analisys_`). – acorello Feb 13 '19 at 13:12
The command may not have been successful due to the limitations of the filesystem, but from another perspective it was successful in interpreting your intentions (renaming a directory, not moving it) :) – bmaupin Feb 13 '19 at 13:47
did you try this? – Mahmoud S. Marwad Jul 21 '19 at 14:12

score 11 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 12 '14 at 13:26

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If you want to rename a directory at your level in the file system (e.g., you are at your home directory and want to rename a directory that is also in your home directory):

mv Directory ./NewNameDirectory

answered Jul 12 '14 at 13:26

Matt P

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score 6 · Answer 5 · answered Apr 21 '14 at 05:26

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This gvfs-move command will also rename files and directories.

gvfs-move /home/user/oldname /home/user/newname

answered Apr 21 '14 at 05:26

Avinash Raj

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score 5 · Answer 6 · answered Nov 29 '16 at 07:58

gvfs-rename will rename directories as well. It will give an error if a directory with the new name already exists. The only limitation is that you can't use a path with the folder name. So

gvfs-rename /home/boo /home/boo-the-dog

will not work, but

cd /home 
gvfs-rename boo boo-the-dog

will work. Not as useful as mv -T but I read in the man that it was meant for network operations.

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Jun 16 '22 at 17:04

My preferred method is using: vidir because I love vi

Install moreutils

sudo apt update; sudo apt install moreutils

Call command vidir in your home-directory

vidir ~

Now search for the directory to change, using slash / e.g. /oldname make the changes, then press = ESC type :wq

Done!

How do I rename a directory via the command line?

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