Used to rename files and directories from the original name to a new name.

In earlier releases of MS-DOS instead of using ren or rename you need to use the move command to rename your MS-DOS directories or files.

Renames a file/directory or files/directories.

RENAME [drive:][path][directoryname1 | filename1] [directoryname2 | filename2]
REN [drive:][path][directoryname1 | filename1] [directoryname2 | filename2]

Note that you cannot specify a new drive or path for your destination.

EXAMPLES

Rename the directory chope to hope. 

rename c:\chope hope  

Rename all text files to files with .bak extension.

rename *.txt *.bak

Rename all files to begin with 1_. The asterisk (*) in this example is an example of a wild character because nothing was placed before or after the first asterisk this means all files.

rename * 1_*