Linux/Unix: Rename Directory With Spaces In Name

To rename a directory with spaces in the name on a Linux or Unix system, you can use the mv command and enclose the name of the directory in quotes.

The mv command is used to move or rename files and directories on a Linux or Unix system. To rename a directory with spaces in the name, you can use the following syntax:

mv "old name" "new name"

Replace old name with the current name of the directory, and replace new name with the new name for the directory. Be sure to enclose the names of the directories in quotes to prevent the shell from interpreting the spaces as argument separators.

For example, to rename the test directory directory to test_directory, you can use the following command:

mv "test directory" "test_directory"

This will rename the test directory directory to test_directory.

Keep in mind that the mv command can be used to rename not only directories but also files on a Linux or Unix system. You can use the same syntax to rename a file with spaces in the name.

You can also use the rename command to rename multiple files or directories at once, based on a search pattern. This can be useful if you need to rename a large number of files or directories with similar names.

For example, to rename all directories in the current directory that contain spaces in the name to replace the spaces with underscores, you can use the following command:

rename 's/ /_/g' *

This will rename all directories in the current directory that contain spaces in the name, replacing the spaces with underscores.