How do you change the capitalization of filenames in Git?

Question

I am trying to rename a file to have different capitalization from what it had before:

git mv src/collision/b2AABB.js src/collision/B2AABB.js
fatal: destination exists, source=src/collision/b2AABB.js, destination=src/collision/B2AABB.js

As you can see, Git throws a fit over this. I tried renaming using just the plain old mv command as well, but Git doesn't pick up the rename (as a rename or as a new untracked file).

How can I change a file to have a different capitalization of the same name? I am on Mac OS X v10.7.3 (Lion) with Git 1.7.9.1 using Z shell (zsh) 4.3.15.

it is because the osx file system is case preserving andcase insensitive by default. You can simply proceed in two steps: `git mv myfile foo; git mv foo MyFile` — tonio, May 09 '12 at 20:51
dupe of http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6899582/i-change-the-capitalization-of-a-directory-and-git-doesnt-seem-to-pick-up-on-it — jackocnr, Jul 24 '13 at 10:52
Starting git 2.0.1 (June 2014), `git mv hello.txt Hello.txt` will work on case insensitive OS. See [my answer below](http://stackoverflow.com/a/24979063/6309) — VonC, Jul 27 '14 at 08:02
Linking http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1793735/change-case-of-a-file-on-windows — Oleg Estekhin, Apr 07 '15 at 11:17
Possible duplicate of [How do I commit case-sensitive only filename changes in Git?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/17683458/how-do-i-commit-case-sensitive-only-filename-changes-in-git) — Stevoisiak, Aug 28 '17 at 20:51

VonC · Accepted Answer · 2021-12-30T19:36:14.767

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Starting Git 2.0.1 (June 25th, 2014), a git mv will just work on a case-insensitive OS.

See commit baa37bf by David Turner (dturner-tw).

`mv`: allow renaming to fix case on case-insensitive filesystems

"git mv hello.txt Hello.txt" on a case-insensitive filesystem always triggers "destination already exists" error, because these two names refer to the same path from the filesystem's point of view and requires the user to give "--force" when correcting the case of the path recorded in the index and in the next commit.

Detect this case and allow it without requiring "--force".

git mv hello.txt Hello.txt just works (no --force required anymore).

The other alternative is:

git config --global core.ignorecase false

And rename the file directly; git add and commit.

It does work in a CMD. It might fail in a git bash (on Windows) session (see Louis-Caron's answer)

As noted by jaquinocode in the comments, if your local repository itself has that setting:

git config --local core.ignorecase false

edited Dec 30 '21 at 19:36

answered Jul 27 '14 at 08:00

VonC

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FWIW this regressed or never worked on Windows. Am on 2.15.1.windows.2 and still need to use --force – TTimo Dec 26 '17 at 19:09
**Will this work for the extensions capitalization also For example, if have file name image.TXT and I want to rename it like image.txt** – Siluveru Kiran Kumar Jun 21 '19 at 05:14
@siluverukirankumar Yes. Did you have any issue with that usecase? – VonC Jun 21 '19 at 05:18
Yes, @VonC I have a use case like where I have image name extension with capital letters like **image.PNG**, but in my code I have **image.png**, I want to change to the **image.png** (assume I don't want to change in my code) when I am changing the file name in folder but it is not showing in the modified files. – Siluveru Kiran Kumar Jun 21 '19 at 06:31
@siluverukirankumar OK. Can you ask a separate question illustrating the issue, with your OS, Git and shell version? – VonC Jun 21 '19 at 06:35
A `git mv hello.txt Hello.txt` followed by a `git reset` would leave a `Hello.txt` in file system, not the original `hello.txt`. – Evi Song Dec 11 '19 at 06:21
how do i do this renaming from caps to lowercase for bulk of images? – Mohak Londhe Dec 28 '19 at 13:47
@MohakLondhe Pending `--pathspec-from-file` (which is slowly added to some commands with Git 2.25, but not `git mv` yet: https://stackoverflow.com/a/59505896/6309), you would need to script it, as in here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/15747640/6309 – VonC Dec 28 '19 at 21:36
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Got this to work on windows by running this command and `git config core.ignorecase false` – John Targaryen May 05 '20 at 11:13
@DeepakGautam Strange. You could ask a separate question with some details illustrating your use case. – VonC Jan 17 '21 at 22:28
In my case, my repo's local git config had core.ignorecase set to true (I don't know why). So changing the setting to true for the global git config (by running `git config --global core.ignorecase false`) wasn't enough for me, since my repo's local setting overrode the global setting. So then I changed the local setting as well (by running `git config --local core.ignorecase false`) and that worked. – jaquinocode Dec 30 '21 at 18:28
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@jaquinocode Good point. I have included your comment in the answer for more visibility. – VonC Dec 30 '21 at 19:36

score 524 · Answer 2 · edited Mar 16 '23 at 21:57

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Considering larsks' answer, you can get it working with a single command with --force:

git mv --force myfile MyFile

edited Mar 16 '23 at 21:57

Josh Correia

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answered Apr 17 '13 at 22:31

Marcello DeSales

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If you are on a case insensitive file system and you get a fatal error "Invalid Argument" try these steps instead: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3011625/git-mv-and-only-change-case-of-directory – Levi Dec 01 '13 at 19:10
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While this is the correct answer for the first step, how to you then proceed to switch to another branch under Mac OS X when the other branch has the old capitalization. I get **** error: The following untracked working tree files would be overwritten by checkout: **** – TJChambers Jan 17 '14 at 02:06
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This failed on commit for me on Windows: `Error: Will not add file alias 'MyFile' ('myfile' already exists in index)` – OrangeDog Feb 02 '16 at 11:57

score 157 · Answer 3 · edited Sep 27 '21 at 10:04

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Sometimes you want to change the capitalization of a lot of file names on a case insensitive filesystem (e.g. on macOS or Windows). Doing individual git mv commands will tire quickly. To make things a bit easier this is what I do:

Move all affected files outside of the directory to, let’s say, the desktop.
Do a git add . -A to stage the removal of those files.
Rename all files on the desktop to the proper capitalization.
Move all the files back to the original directory.
Do a git add .. Git should see that the files are renamed.

Now you can make a commit saying you have changed the file name capitalization.

edited Sep 27 '21 at 10:04

waldyrious

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answered May 12 '14 at 12:46

MrHus

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This comes at the expense of all history in the files you move in and out, right? I'm guessing the git mv --force doesn't have this shortcoming. – LOAS Jan 04 '18 at 09:21
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No, this would not remove all of the history. Notice that there is no commit between the two adds. – Michael L Perry Jan 24 '19 at 22:15
this is really what I needed. well done. it should be an answer as well. thank you! – Mehmet Kurtipek Jun 22 '20 at 21:35
See also @softarn's [answer](https://stackoverflow.com/a/40990382/266309), which offers a convenient one-liner to do this all at once :) – waldyrious Sep 27 '21 at 10:00
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The much simpler and less hacky way to do this is `git rm -r --cached .` + `git add --all .` as explained in [this answer](https://stackoverflow.com/a/55541435/8910547) that deserves a ton more upvotes. – Inigo Jan 31 '23 at 01:57

score 73 · Answer 4 · edited Jan 03 '20 at 11:59

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File names under OS X are not case sensitive (by default). This is more of an OS problem than a Git problem. If you remove and readd the file, you should get what you want, or rename it to something else and then rename it back.

edited Jan 03 '20 at 11:59

Peter Mortensen

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answered May 09 '12 at 20:51

larsks

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You can also `git clone` the repo on a Linux system, rename the files and commit them just for this situation (if you have a Linux system at hand). – gitaarik Feb 07 '14 at 12:48
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Actually, filesystems on OS X can be case-sensitive, you can configure it on installation. [How to check if an OS X partition is case-sensitive](http://apple.stackexchange.com/q/71357/122223) – Flimm May 05 '15 at 17:19
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...hence the "(by default)" in the answer. – larsks Aug 18 '17 at 16:45
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To confirm, you can use `git rm --cached fileorfolder` to remove the file or folder from git without removing the file or folder from the file system. Then you can simply add the file or folder again with `git add fileorfolder`. – kas May 01 '18 at 18:32

score 58 · Answer 5 · edited Jul 04 '22 at 17:32

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Set `ignorecase` to `false` in git config

As the original post is about "Changing capitalization of filenames in Git":

If you are trying to change capitalisation of a filename in your project, you do not need to force rename it from Git. IMO, I would rather change the capitalisation from my IDE/editor and make sure that I configure Git properly to pick up the renaming.

By default, a Git template is set to ignore case (Git case insensitive). To verify you have the default template, use --get to retrieve the value for a specified key. Use --local and --global to indicate to Git whether to pick up a configuration key-value from your local Git repository configuration or global one. As an example, if you want to lookup your global key core.ignorecase (if the commands return nothing, you probably need to prefix with sudo):

git config --global --get core.ignorecase

If this returns true, make sure to set it as:

git config --global core.ignorecase false

(Make sure you have proper permissions to change global.) And there you have it; now your Git installation would not ignore capitalisations and treat them as changes.

As a suggestion, if you are working on multi-language projects and you feel not all projects should be treated as case-sensitive by Git, just update the local core.ignorecase file.

edited Jul 04 '22 at 17:32

Dave Everitt

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And if `git config --global --get core.ignorecase` doesn't return anything. Is it `true`?? because after I set it to `false` it returns false (Windows 10) – fralbo Jan 07 '17 at 10:47
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And it seems not working as expected. I mean the desktop client see the change but after commit/sync, the filename remains unchanged online ! – fralbo Jan 07 '17 at 12:33
Worked for me (and better for multiple files than using `git mv`). I'm also assuming that by default it is considered true (i.e. it is ignoring case). Either that, or it matches the OS's policy to file name casing. – Jerry Dec 02 '19 at 10:10
THAT is THE answer. Just used it. – Dave Everitt Apr 17 '20 at 15:52
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This should be the selected answer – Dave Everitt Apr 17 '20 at 16:00
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Changing the global setting may not work because the local setting is overriding it. If it is not working for you check both. – Xcalibur Nov 06 '20 at 03:04

score 12 · Answer 6 · edited Jan 03 '20 at 12:16

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You can open the ".git" directory and then edit the "config" file. Under "[core]" set, set "ignorecase = true" and you are done ;)

edited Jan 03 '20 at 12:16

Peter Mortensen

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answered Mar 14 '17 at 07:24

Деян Добромиров

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seems that it should be changed to false such that git would be case-sensitive? – Jonathan Jun 09 '20 at 08:02
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Yep, exactly. I personally have when git invokes a `smart` behavior and attempt to convert line endings of my files. A shitty `smart` feature that I currently detest very much, as I mainly code under Windows for Linux machines so I say `checkout as is, commit as is`. – Деян Добромиров Apr 03 '21 at 11:51

Louis Caron · Answer 7 · 2021-06-29T06:08:30.370

Answer by Vonc is totally correct, but there is still a potential situation where your rename action would not work with git for windows:

Let's say you want to rename dir/mypath to dir/myPath:

git mv dir/mypath dir/myPath

but it fails reporting:

Rename from 'dir/mypath' to 'dir/mypath' failed. Should I try again? (y/n)

The problem is that the bash has silently replaced your command line dir/myPath with dir/mypath because it has detected that such a path exists with a different capitalization.

The solution is to use an intermediate move operation:

git mv dir/mypath dir/mypath_temp
git mv dir/mypath_temp dir/myPath

softarn · Answer 8 · 2021-03-16T09:56:39.050

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To bulk git mv files to lowercase on macOS and git bash on Windows:

for f in *; do git mv "$f" "`echo $f | tr "[:upper:]" "[:lower:]"`"; done

It will lowercase all files in a folder.

edited Mar 16 '21 at 09:56

answered Dec 06 '16 at 07:54

softarn

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it also works on windows in git bash. thanks for saving me a lot of time! :) – Vincent Gagnon Mar 16 '21 at 09:44
@VincentGagnon glad to hear! Updated the answer with that info. – softarn Mar 16 '21 at 09:57

score 2 · Answer 9 · edited Jan 03 '20 at 12:17

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Working example:

git mv ./src/images/poster_video.PNG ./src/images/poster_video.png

edited Jan 03 '20 at 12:17

Peter Mortensen

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answered Nov 25 '19 at 15:29

lucho20pt

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Your answer does not solve the original question. You are lowcasing the extension – Tavo Nov 26 '19 at 10:38
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I am looking exactly this, but for 500 images. i want to rename ./src/images/TESTIMAGE.png to ./src/images/testimage.png on git – Mohak Londhe Dec 28 '19 at 13:43

score 2 · Answer 10 · answered Feb 24 '23 at 18:18

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If you want to change the file name to uppercase , you can simply go to github repo & press . i.e dot =>this will open up the online editor. Make your changes & commit your changes there only using source control icon on the left.

answered Feb 24 '23 at 18:18

shubham

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Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please [edit] to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers [in the help center](/help/how-to-answer). – Community Mar 01 '23 at 13:09

score 1 · Answer 11 · edited Jan 03 '20 at 12:11

This Python snippet will git mv --force all files in a directory to be lowercase. For example, foo/Bar.js will become foo/bar.js via git mv foo/Bar.js foo/bar.js --force.

Modify it to your liking. I just figured I'd share :)

import os
import re

searchDir = 'c:/someRepo'
exclude = ['.git', 'node_modules','bin']
os.chdir(searchDir)

for root, dirs, files in os.walk(searchDir):
    dirs[:] = [d for d in dirs if d not in exclude]
    for f in files:
        if re.match(r'[A-Z]', f):
            fullPath = os.path.join(root, f)
            fullPathLower = os.path.join(root, f[0].lower() + f[1:])
            command = 'git mv --force ' + fullPath + ' ' + fullPathLower
            print(command)
            os.system(command)

score 1 · Answer 12 · answered May 10 '21 at 20:08

I got the following changes on Windows in Sourcetree:

I solved it by removing the file from the file system:

Then simply discard the file I want to keep and commit:

Now everything worked as expected.

Based on this answer:

https://stackoverflow.com/a/66121726/3850405

How do you change the capitalization of filenames in Git?

12 Answers12

`mv`: allow renaming to fix case on case-insensitive filesystems

Set `ignorecase` to `false` in git config

Linked

Related

How do you change the capitalization of filenames in Git?

12 Answers12

mv: allow renaming to fix case on case-insensitive filesystems

Set ignorecase to false in git config

Linked

Related

`mv`: allow renaming to fix case on case-insensitive filesystems

Set `ignorecase` to `false` in git config