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| <h3 class="section">14.7 Renaming Files</h3> |
| |
| <p>The <code>rename</code> function is used to change a file's name. |
| |
| <p><a name="index-renaming-a-file-1483"></a><!-- stdio.h --> |
| <!-- ISO --> |
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| <div class="defun"> |
| — Function: int <b>rename</b> (<var>const char *oldname, const char *newname</var>)<var><a name="index-rename-1484"></a></var><br> |
| <blockquote><p>The <code>rename</code> function renames the file <var>oldname</var> to |
| <var>newname</var>. The file formerly accessible under the name |
| <var>oldname</var> is afterwards accessible as <var>newname</var> instead. (If |
| the file had any other names aside from <var>oldname</var>, it continues to |
| have those names.) |
| |
| <p>The directory containing the name <var>newname</var> must be on the same file |
| system as the directory containing the name <var>oldname</var>. |
| |
| <p>One special case for <code>rename</code> is when <var>oldname</var> and |
| <var>newname</var> are two names for the same file. The consistent way to |
| handle this case is to delete <var>oldname</var>. However, in this case |
| POSIX requires that <code>rename</code> do nothing and report success—which |
| is inconsistent. We don't know what your operating system will do. |
| |
| <p>If <var>oldname</var> is not a directory, then any existing file named |
| <var>newname</var> is removed during the renaming operation. However, if |
| <var>newname</var> is the name of a directory, <code>rename</code> fails in this |
| case. |
| |
| <p>If <var>oldname</var> is a directory, then either <var>newname</var> must not |
| exist or it must name a directory that is empty. In the latter case, |
| the existing directory named <var>newname</var> is deleted first. The name |
| <var>newname</var> must not specify a subdirectory of the directory |
| <code>oldname</code> which is being renamed. |
| |
| <p>One useful feature of <code>rename</code> is that the meaning of <var>newname</var> |
| changes “atomically” from any previously existing file by that name to |
| its new meaning (i.e., the file that was called <var>oldname</var>). There is |
| no instant at which <var>newname</var> is non-existent “in between” the old |
| meaning and the new meaning. If there is a system crash during the |
| operation, it is possible for both names to still exist; but |
| <var>newname</var> will always be intact if it exists at all. |
| |
| <p>If <code>rename</code> fails, it returns <code>-1</code>. In addition to the usual |
| file name errors (see <a href="File-Name-Errors.html#File-Name-Errors">File Name Errors</a>), the following |
| <code>errno</code> error conditions are defined for this function: |
| |
| <dl> |
| <dt><code>EACCES</code><dd>One of the directories containing <var>newname</var> or <var>oldname</var> |
| refuses write permission; or <var>newname</var> and <var>oldname</var> are |
| directories and write permission is refused for one of them. |
| |
| <br><dt><code>EBUSY</code><dd>A directory named by <var>oldname</var> or <var>newname</var> is being used by |
| the system in a way that prevents the renaming from working. This includes |
| directories that are mount points for filesystems, and directories |
| that are the current working directories of processes. |
| |
| <br><dt><code>ENOTEMPTY</code><dt><code>EEXIST</code><dd>The directory <var>newname</var> isn't empty. The GNU system always returns |
| <code>ENOTEMPTY</code> for this, but some other systems return <code>EEXIST</code>. |
| |
| <br><dt><code>EINVAL</code><dd><var>oldname</var> is a directory that contains <var>newname</var>. |
| |
| <br><dt><code>EISDIR</code><dd><var>newname</var> is a directory but the <var>oldname</var> isn't. |
| |
| <br><dt><code>EMLINK</code><dd>The parent directory of <var>newname</var> would have too many links |
| (entries). |
| |
| <br><dt><code>ENOENT</code><dd>The file <var>oldname</var> doesn't exist. |
| |
| <br><dt><code>ENOSPC</code><dd>The directory that would contain <var>newname</var> has no room for another |
| entry, and there is no space left in the file system to expand it. |
| |
| <br><dt><code>EROFS</code><dd>The operation would involve writing to a directory on a read-only file |
| system. |
| |
| <br><dt><code>EXDEV</code><dd>The two file names <var>newname</var> and <var>oldname</var> are on different |
| file systems. |
| </dl> |
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