rename(CMD) 19 June 1992 rename(CMD) Name rename (ren) - change the name of a file or files Syntax rename [drive:][path]filename1 filename2 ren [drive:][path]filename1 filename2 Description You can rename all files matching the specified filename. You cannot use the rename command to rename files across drives, to move files to a dif- ferent directory location, or to rename subdirectories. 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.) Notes 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. Related commands For information about renaming a disk, see the label(CMD) command. For information about copying files to a different drive or directory, see the copy(CMD) command. For information about copying entire directories to a new location, see the xcopy(CMD) command.