Git: Rename a file

'git mv' command is used to rename or move a file, directory.

Syntax

git mv {current_file_name}  {new_file_name}

Step 1: Clone a repository by executing below command.

git clone {repository_url}

$git clone https://github.com/harikrishna553/gitHelloWorld.git
Cloning into 'gitHelloWorld'...
remote: Enumerating objects: 24, done.
remote: Counting objects: 100% (24/24), done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (17/17), done.
remote: Total 24 (delta 3), reused 14 (delta 1), pack-reused 0
Unpacking objects: 100% (24/24), done.

Folder structure looks like below.

$tree
.
└── gitHelloWorld
    ├── README.md
    ├── tempFile1.txt
    ├── tempFile4.txt
    └── welcome.txt

1 directory, 4 files

Step 2: Navigate to gitHelloWorld directory and rename the file tempFile4.txt to tempFile4_copy.txt using ‘git mv’ command.

$cd gitHelloWorld/
$
$git mv tempFile4.txt tempFile4_copy.txt
$
$tree
.
├── README.md
├── tempFile1.txt
├── tempFile4_copy.txt
└── welcome.txt

0 directories, 4 files
$
$git status
On branch master
Your branch is up to date with 'origin/master'.

Changes to be committed:
  (use "git reset HEAD <file>..." to unstage)

 renamed:    tempFile4.txt -> tempFile4_copy.txt

Step 3: Commit the changes.

$git commit -m "Renamed tempFile4.txt to tempFile4_copy.txt"
[master 3f857de] Renamed tempFile4.txt to tempFile4_copy.txt
 1 file changed, 0 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
 rename tempFile4.txt => tempFile4_copy.txt (100%)

Step 4: Push the changes to remote branch.

Before pushing the changes.

$git push origin master
Enumerating objects: 3, done.
Counting objects: 100% (3/3), done.
Delta compression using up to 12 threads
Compressing objects: 100% (2/2), done.
Writing objects: 100% (2/2), 261 bytes | 261.00 KiB/s, done.
Total 2 (delta 1), reused 0 (delta 0)
remote: Resolving deltas: 100% (1/1), completed with 1 local object.
To https://github.com/harikrishna553/gitHelloWorld.git
   4f26ba8..3f857de  master -> master

After pushing the changes.

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