PowerShell has a built-in cmdlet Rename-Item that allows you to rename files, directories, or other items in a file system or registry.
You can use any of the following methods to rename files in the PowerShell.
Method 1: Rename files in PowerShell
Rename-Item -Path "C:\temp\log.txt", -NewName "log_daily.txt"This example renames the file log.txt to log_daily.txt.
Method 2: Rename multiple files in PowerShell
Get-ChildItem -Path "C:\temp\log\*.txt" | Rename-Item -NewName {$_.Name -replace '.txt','.log'}This example gets all the files in the log folder with the *.txt file extension and pipes to the Rename-Item. The Rename-Item cmdlet renames multiple files with the extension .txt to .log using the -NewName parameter.
Method 3: Rename hidden and read-only files in PowerShell
These methods can be used to rename files in PowerShell using the Rename-Item cmdlet.
The following examples show how to use each one of the methods.
Rename File in PowerShell Using Rename-Item
To rename a file in PowerShell, you can use the Rename-Item cmdlet. It changes the name of the specified file.
The following example shows how to do it with syntax.
# Rename file name Rename-Item -Path "C:\temp\log\log.txt" -NewName "log_daily.txt" # Retrieve the files in the given folder Get-ChildItem -Path C:\temp\log\
This PowerShell script renames the file name log.txt to log_daily.txt. The -Path parameter specifies the current file that you want to rename and the -NewName parameter specifies the new name you want to give to the file.
Note that, the Rename-Item cmdlet doesn’t affect the content of the item being renamed.
Rename Multiple Files in PowerShell Using Rename-Item
To rename multiple files in PowerShell with the given extension, use the Rename-Item cmdlet. The Get-ChildItem cmdlet can be used to retrieve the list of all files that you want to rename.
The following example shows how to do it with syntax.
Get-ChildItem -Path "C:\temp\log\*.txt"
Get-ChildItem -Path "C:\temp\log\*.txt" | Rename-Item -NewName {$_.Name -replace '.txt','.log'}
Get-ChildItem -Path "C:\temp\log\*.log"
The output of the above PowerShell script shows the multiple files in a folder having a .txt file extension renamed to a .log file extension.
The Get-ChildItem cmdlet gets all the files in the specified folder and pipes them to the Rename-Item command.
The Rename-Item command uses the -NewName parameter to rename multiple files with an extension to another extension using the -replace operator.
Rename Hidden and Read-Only Files in PowerShell Using Rename-Item
To rename hidden and read-only files in PowerShell, you can use the Rename-Item cmdlet with the -Force parameter. This parameter allows you to rename items forcefully.
The following example shows how to do it with syntax.
Rename-Item -Path "C:\temp\log\paywall.txt" -NewName paywall.log -Force
In this PowerShell script, the Rename-Item cmdlet renames the file specified at location C:\temp\log\paywall.txt to the new name paywall.log.
The Rename-Item cmdlet uses the -NewName parameter to specify the name for the file and the -Force parameter to force the cmdlet to rename the file, even if it’s hidden or read-only.
Conclusion
I hope the above article on how to rename files in PowerShell with the Rename-Item cmdlet is helpful to you.
The Rename-Item command renames the file name or its extension in a file system or registry. It doesn’t change the content of the file while renaming it.
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