Renaming Files in Git

Why Rename Files?

Renaming files is a common practice in software development for various reasons:

• Improved Clarity: Renaming files can enhance the clarity of your project's structure, making it easier for collaborators to understand the purpose of each file;
• Consistency: Maintaining consistent naming conventions across your project is crucial for readability and maintainability;
• Functionality Changes: As your project evolves, the functionality of certain files may change. Renaming them to reflect these changes is essential for accurate documentation.

Git Command for Renaming Files

Git simplifies the process of renaming files, and it's crucial to use Git commands to ensure that the version history remains intact. The primary command for renaming files is:

Where old_filename is the current name of the file, and new_filename is the name you want to rename to. This command performs three actions simultaneously:

• Renames the file locally;
• Stages the change for commit;
• Modifies the file in the working directory.

After running this command, you can proceed to commit the changes.

Note

In fact, this command can also be used to move files between directories.

Example Scenario

Let’s first create an example configuration file named cg.txt with one line which contains a value of certain example secret key value:

Now, we’ll the check the status of our working tree and staging area:

Let’s add this file to the staging area:

Afterward, we can commit this addition:

The commit is successful, however the name of our config file is not really meaningful and clear, so let’s rename it to config.txt:

Once again, we’ll check the status of our working tree and staging area:

As you can see, the status shows us that the file was renamed from cg.txt to config.txt, and this change is already staged and ready to be committed.

Now, we can commit this change:

Congratulations! We have renamed our config file, and our commit is successful.