Unix Rename a Directory Command

I am an new Unix system user. I have a directory called letters in my home directory. How do I rename letters to letters.old on Unix like operating systems?

You need to use the mv command as follows to rename the file or directory names on Unix-like operating systems.

mv command syntax to rename directories

The basic syntax is:

mv oldDirName newDirName

mv source target

Renaming a directory on Unix

Open the Terminal app and type the following command to rename a directory called foo to bar:

mv foo bar

Alert: The directory foo will be given the new name bar as long as a directory called bar did not previously exist. If directory bar already existed before the mv command was issued, the result of would be to put the directory foo and its files into the directory bar.

Getting verbose output

Pass the -v option to the mv command to be verbose, showing files after they are moved:

mv -v python-project-1 python-project-2

python-project-1 -> python-project-2

Posted by: Vivek Gite

The author is the creator of nixCraft and a seasoned sysadmin and a trainer for the Linux operating system/Unix shell scripting. He has worked with global clients and in various industries, including IT, education, defense and space research, and the nonprofit sector. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook, Google+.

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