How to Rename Directories in Linux

Renaming directories is one of the most common file management operations on a Linux system. You can rename directories from the GUI file manager or from the command-line terminal.

This article explains how to rename directories using the command line.

Renaming a Directory with mv #

In Linux and Unix-like operating systems, you use the mv (move) command to rename or move files and directories from one location to another.

The basic syntax is:

mv [OPTIONS] source destination

To rename a directory called dir1 to dir2, run:

mv dir1 dir2

The first argument is the current name of the directory, and the second is the new name.

If dir2 already exists as a directory, mv moves dir1 inside it rather than renaming it. To avoid surprises, pass the -i flag, which prompts for confirmation before overwriting:

mv -i dir1 dir2

Use the -v (verbose) flag to have mv print the operation as it happens:

mv -v dir1 dir2

renamed ‘dir1’ -> ‘dir2’

To rename a directory that is not in the current working directory, specify either the absolute or relative path:

mv /home/user/dir1 /home/user/dir2

Renaming Multiple Directories #

Renaming a single directory is straightforward, but renaming several directories at once requires a bit of scripting.

Using mv in a Loop #

The mv command can rename only one directory at a time, but you can combine it with a loop or with find to process many directories in one go.

The following example uses a Bash for loop to append the current date to every directory in the current working directory:

for d in *; do
  if [ -d "$d" ]; then
    mv -- "$d" "${d}_$(date +%Y%m%d)"
  fi
done

The loop iterates over all items in the directory. The [ -d "$d" ] test filters out regular files, and the mv command appends a date stamp to each directory name.

Here is the same task using mv in combination with find:

find . -mindepth 1 -prune -type d -exec sh -c ‘d="{}"; mv -- "$d" "${d}_$(date +%Y%m%d)"’ \;

The find command passes each directory to mv one by one using the -exec option. The string {} is the name of the directory currently being processed.

Using the rename Command #

The rename command renames multiple files and directories using Perl regular expressions, which makes pattern-based renaming simpler than writing a loop.

The following example replaces spaces in the names of all directories in the current working directory with underscores:

find . -mindepth 1 -prune -type d | rename ‘y/ /_/’

Before running rename on real data, pass the -n flag to preview the changes without applying them:

find . -mindepth 1 -prune -type d | rename -n ‘y/ /_/’

Here is another example that converts directory names to lowercase:

find . -mindepth 1 -prune -type d | rename ‘y/A-Z/a-z/’

Conclusion #

The mv command handles single renames, while a for loop or the rename utility covers batch operations. For more on moving and renaming files, see the mv command guide .

About the authors

Dejan Panovski

Dejan Panovski is the founder of Linuxize, an RHCSA-certified Linux system administrator and DevOps engineer based in Skopje, Macedonia. Author of 800+ Linux tutorials with 20+ years of experience turning complex Linux tasks into clear, reliable guides.

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