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How to Rename Files in Linux With the mv Command<\/h2>
The mv <\/strong>or move<\/strong> command is used for two essential tasks in handling files in Terminal – moving files between locations and renaming them.<\/p> To run mv <\/strong>on Linux, connect to your VPS via SSH to access the command-line interface. You can use an SSH client like PuTTY<\/a> or Terminal. For a local system, you can directly run the mv<\/strong> command via Terminal.<\/p> All Hostinger VPS hosting solutions<\/a> support remote connection via SSH, allowing users to access their servers securely. Our hosting also provides full root support to ensure users can run various management commands without permission issues.<\/p> You will also need the VPS IP address and username to log in. For Hostinger users, navigate to the VPS menu on the top bar and select the relevant plan. Then, get the login credentials in the SSH Access<\/strong> tab.<\/p> Open Terminal and enter the following command. Remember to replace your-user<\/strong> with the username and your-server<\/strong> with the VPS IP address:<\/p> Once connected, run the following command to learn more about how the mv command works:<\/p> The basic mv <\/strong>command syntax is as follows:<\/p> SOURCE <\/strong>refers to the file’s origin directory, while DESTINATION <\/strong>is its target path.<\/p> The option <\/strong>is an additional parameter for modifying the command’s output. Here are several popular mv <\/strong>options:<\/p> To rename a file, use the following mv<\/strong> command syntax. Note that this only works if you are in the same directory as the file:<\/p> If there is a file called file1.txt <\/strong>which you want to rename to file2.txt<\/strong>, enter the following:<\/p> If you are not in the file’s location, you must change the current working directory using the cd <\/strong>command. For example:<\/p> By default, the mv<\/strong> command can only rename one file. To change multiple files’ names, combine mv<\/strong> with other commands. You must also use the find<\/strong>, for<\/strong>, or while<\/strong> loops to repeat the commands until the desired result is met.<\/p> To do so, create a new bash script file with the .sh<\/strong> extension using the touch<\/strong> command<\/a>. Open it using a text editor like nano<\/strong><\/a> and write the loop. For example, enter the following to change all files in your current directory from the TXT<\/strong> extension to PDF<\/strong>:<\/p> This command creates a for loop to examine the list of TXT<\/strong> files in the directory. It will then replace each TXT <\/strong>extension with PDF<\/strong>. After all the files turn into PDF<\/strong>, the loop ends.<\/p> To run the bash script, enter the command below. Replace the file name and directory path according to your own:<\/p> If you encounter an error, ensure your current user account has the execute permission over the file. Otherwise, enter the chmod command to change the privilege<\/a>:<\/p> The rename<\/strong> command gives you more flexibility in modifying the files. Many Linux configurations include this command by default. If your system doesn’t have one, install it via Terminal.<\/p> Hostinger’s VPS hosting environment is optimized for users to use Linux commands for server management efficiently. In addition to offering various Linux distributions, we use powerful hardware to provide optimal performance, ensuring smooth command-line operations.<\/p>ssh your-user@your-server<\/pre>
mv --help<\/pre>
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<\/a><\/figure>mv Command Syntax and Options<\/h3>
mv option SOURCE...DIRECTORY<\/pre>
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Rename a File on Linux Using the mv Command<\/h3>
mv oldnamefile1 newnamefile1<\/pre>
mv file1.txt file2.txt<\/pre>
cd \/home\/user\/docs\/files<\/pre>
mv file1.txt file2.txt<\/pre>
Rename Multiple Files With the mv Command<\/h3>
for f in *txt; do\n mv -- \"$f\" \"${f%.txt}.pdf\"\ndone<\/pre>bash \/path\/to\/file\/script.sh<\/pre>
sudo chmod +x \/path\/to\/file\/script.sh<\/pre>
How to Rename Files on Linux Using the rename Command<\/h2>