ren (or rename) is a shell command for renaming a file and in some implementations (such as AmigaDOS) a directory.

Some shells with ren also provide a move command that provides for moving between directories. On systems that do not support a move command (such as MS-DOS older than 6.00), the user could copy a file to a new destination and then delete the original file. In DOSBox, ren can move files.

Description of the RENAME command of RT-11SJ displayed on a VT100.

The command is in various shells such as COMMAND.COM, Command Prompt, 4DOS, 4NT and PowerShell. In MS-DOS, the command is available in versions 1 and later. In PowerShell, ren is a predefined alias for the Rename-Item Cmdlet which serves the same essential purpose.

Similar commands are available in many operating systems. The command is available in the CP/M, MP/M, Cromemco DOS, TRIPOS, OS/2, ReactOS, SymbOS, and DexOS. Multics includes a rename command to rename a directory entry, which could be contracted to rn. A rename command which in some cases can be contracted to ren is provided in Stratus VOS, RT-11, OS/8, RSX-11, ISIS-II, iRMX 86, TOPS-20, Z80-RIO, FLEX, OS-9, FlexOS, 4690 OS, MPE/iX, THEOS/OASIS, and OpenVMS A rename command is supported by 86-DOS. DR DOS 6.0 includes ren and rename commands. PC-MOS includes an implementation of rename. It is also available in the MS-DOS emulator DOSBox.

Example

The following renames file foo to bar.

The following renames a file specified by a fully qualified path. The first parameter may contain drive and path information, but the second parameter must be only a file name.

The following removes abcd of a file name in Command Prompt based on the following rules:

  • Same number of / as the number of characters to remove
  • Requries double quotes for both arguments
  • Won't remove . from a file name

See also

Further reading

  • Wolverton, Van (1990). MS-DOS Commands: Microsoft Quick Reference, 4th Revised edition. Microsoft Press. ISBN 978-1556152894.
  • Kathy Ivens; Brian Proffit (1993). OS/2 Inside & Out. Osborne McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0078818714.
  • Frisch, Æleen (2001). Windows 2000 Commands Pocket Reference. O'Reilly. ISBN 978-0-596-00148-3.

External links