How to Rename File in CMD [Command Prompt]

Windows’ command prompt (CMD) allows us to rename files using the rename command. The syntax and examples of this command are below.

How to Rename File in CMD –

Command syntax for rename:

rename  file_path  new_name

Example:

rename  d:\data\file1.doc file2.doc

The file2.doc will appear in the folder d:/data after running the above command.

Both rename and ren are aliases for one another.

Found the Errors:

A. Renaming the files fails with the below error if they are used by an application.

C:\>rename data.xlsx newdata.xlsx
The process cannot access the file because it is being used by
another process.
C:\>

B. In order to rename the file, you must also have sufficient privileges.

c:\>rename c:\windows\csc test
Access is denied.
c:\>

C. A file is not converted from one type to another when it is renamed; it changes only the file name. The file format remains the same even if you change a filename from mp4 to mp3.

If a doc file is named mydocument.docx and renamed to mydocument.pdf, Acrobat Reader cannot open the file.

You may also like: Run Command for Device Manager – CMD from as Admin