Rename files and folders via command line - Linux

In Linux, there is no special command to rename files and folders. We want to use move command ( mv ) to rename files and folders.

If you have to rename one file in the working directory, we can simply use mv command.

mv testfile testfile-2

Now the testfile in the working directory will be renamed as testfile-2.

If you have to rename files and folders in a different directory ( not in working directory ), we just want to keep the destination folder as same as source folder.

mv /home/user/Desktop/testfile /home/user/Desktop/testfile-2

In the above example, testfile in the user Desktop folder will be renamed as testfile-2.

There is no complexity at all. If we move a file to the same folder, it will be renamed. That’s all.