How To Rename Files and Folders in Windows CMD

The ren (or rename) command can be used to rename files and folders in the Window command prompt (CMD).

The syntax of the rename command is as follows:

rename file-name new-file-name

Examples

Rename file1.txt to file2.txt:

ren file1.txt file2.txt

Rename the name of a directory from Pictures to Documents:

ren Pictures Documents

Use quotation marks if the file or folder name contains spaces:

ren "New folder" "Documents"

The ren command supports wildcards to rename multiple files at once. For example, the following command renames the extension of all files in a folder (from .txt to .doc):

ren *.txt *.doc

Note that you can’t move files from one directory to another with the ren command. For that, use the move command.