The-Unix-Shell-Teaching-Notes

3.3 Renaming Files

Suppose you created a text file called statstics.txt

After creating and saving this file you realize you misspelled the filename! You want to correct the mistake, which of the following commands could you use to do so?

1. cp statstics.txt statistics.txt
2. mv statstics.txt statistics.txt
3. mv statstics.txt .
4. cp statstics.txt .

Solution

1. No. While this would create a file with the correct name, the incorrectly named file still exists in the directory and would need to be deleted.
2. Yes
3. No, the period(.) indicates where to move the file, but does not provide a new file name; identical file names cannot be created.
4. No, the period(.) indicates where to copy the file, but does not provide a new file name; identical file names cannot be created.

Episode 3 Exercise 4