MS DOS Command: RENAME (REN)

Reference from Microsoft MS-DOS cmd help

Description

Changes the name of the file or files you specify.

You can rename all files matching the specified filename. You cannot use the RENAME command to rename files across drives or to move files to a different directory location. To rename subdirectories or move files, use the MOVE command.

Syntax

RENAME [drive:][path]filename1 filename2 REN [drive:][path]filename1 filename2

Parameters

[drive:][path]filename1	Specifies the location and name of the file or set of files you want to rename.
filename2	Specifies the new name for the file or, if you use wildcards, the new names for the files. (You cannot specify a new drive or path.)

Related Commands

For information about renaming directories, see the MOVE command.

For information about renaming a disk, see the LABEL command.

For information about copying files to a different drive or directory, see the COPY command.

For information about copying entire directories to a new location, see the XCOPY command.

Remarks

Using wildcards with RENAME

You can use wildcards (* and ?) in either filename parameter. If you use wildcards in filename2, the characters represented by the wildcards will be identical to the corresponding characters in filename1.

RENAME will not work if filename2 already exists

If, for filename2, you specify a filename that already exists, RENAME displays the following message:

Duplicate file name or file not found

Examples

Suppose you want to change the extensions of all the filenames in the current directory that have the extension .TXT; for example, suppose you want to change the .TXT extensions to .DOC extensions. To make this change, type the following command:

ren *.txt *.doc

To rename a file named CHAP10 (on drive B) to PART10, type the following command:

ren b:chap10 part10

The newly renamed file PART10 remains on drive B.