Renaming a file in Git Bash on Windows

Question

I'm new to Git and Linux/Bash. I have Git Bash installed on Windows 10. How do I rename a file using an absolute path?

For instance the Windows folder path is:

D:\GitHub\Datsville\datsville_inlined

The old file name is:

datsville_rev493_inlined_n_boxed_f.xmpd

The new file name is:

datsville_sf_rev493_inlined_n_boxed_f.xmpd

Bonus: How do I put multiple such commands in a script file? Thanks.

Read the documentation of [`git mv`](https://git-scm.com/docs/git-mv). It renames the files on disk then it updates its index. This is the easiest (and the right) way to do it, no matter the OS. — axiac, Dec 07 '22 at 21:20

score 7 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 31 '20 at 06:31

In Linux, the commands are case sensitive.

mv is the command you're looking for. It's the shorten for "move", but you can rename files. Like mv oldfilename newfilename. I think the main problem is that you can't access files on the C:, D: etc. drive. Linux has a different directory structure than Windows. There is a root directory (/), and everything else is mounted to a sub-directory. Like you can access your pendrive on /mnt/pendrive (just an example, does not work). On Git Bash, the Windows drives are mounted to /c, /d etc. So it you want to rename it, you can do like this:

mv /c/somepath/oldfilename /c/somepath/newfilename

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 31 '20 at 07:43

For a git repository, you can use git mv for renaming/moving files, but only within the same repository. Also avoid doing this on a folder which has been created using git submodule.

Another option is to create a bash script for rename/move files and then git add thay again to the repo. Alternatively, you can do this using windows cmd or create a batch file, just add path to git.exe to the path environment variable, if you haven't already done so.

Also, since you are new to using git, I recommend that you use TortoiseGit - this should help you understand what git is.

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 16 '22 at 21:38

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This does not use git bash but if you want to use the linux "rename" command you can download Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) 2 here https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install

answered Mar 16 '22 at 21:38

Jake

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score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 07 '22 at 21:09

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using command: git mv oldfilename newfilename. once done, you will see file renamed in "git status" output.

answered Dec 07 '22 at 21:09

honeytechiebee

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score -1 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 24 '20 at 07:29

Use `mv` command in windows

As mentioned in above answer, mv command can be used in windows as well to rename the filename. I tried rename and ren commands s suggested, but I was getting error: bash: ren: command not found.

Use below to change the filename:

mv filename new_filename

Renaming a file in Git Bash on Windows

5 Answers5

Use mv command in windows

Use `mv` command in windows