How to Rename File Using Python

Python is a feature-rich programming language used by many software and web developers around the world. It allows you to perform numerous operations with files. Sometimes you may need to rename file using python. Here is how to rename file using python.

How to Rename File Using Python

It is very easy to rename file in Python using os library. Here is an example to rename file /home/ubuntu/data.txt to /home/ubuntu/new-data.txt

import os

os.rename('/home/ubuntu/data.txt','/home/ubuntu/new-data.txt')

In the above os.rename command, you need to use the existing filename as first argument, and the new file name as the second argument.

Please remember to use full file paths for both existing and new file names. If you don’t use full file paths, then python will look for the file in current working directory.

Also, change the file path format according to your OS. In Linux, you need to use forward slash and in Windows, you need to use backward slash. The above code is to change file name in Linux. Here is the command to change file name in Windows.

import os

os.rename('c:\\home\\data.txt','c:\\home\\new-data.txt')

That’s it. In this short article, we have learnt how to rename file in Python. Generally, this code is a part of larger functions and modules. So you can customize it as per your requirement.

Also read:

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