Node.js | fs.rename() Method

The fs.rename() method is used to asynchronously rename a file at the given old path to a given new path. It will overwrite the destination file if it already exists.

Syntax:

fs.rename( oldPath, newPath, callback )

Parameters: This method accept three parameters as mentioned above and described below:

oldPath: It holds the path of the file that has to be renamed. It can be a string, buffer or URL.
newPath: It holds the new path that the file has to be renamed. It can be a string, buffer or URL.
callback: It is the function that would be called when the method is executed. It has an optional argument for showing any error that occurs during the process.

Below examples illustrate the fs.rename() method in Node.js:

Example 1: This example uses fs.rename() method to rename a file.

// Node.js program to demonstrate the     
// fs.rename() method  
     
// Import filesystem module 
const fs = require('fs'); 
   
// List all the filenames before renaming 
getCurrentFilenames(); 
   
// Rename the file 
fs.rename('hello.txt', 'world.txt', () => { 
  console.log("\nFile Renamed!\n"); 
   
  // List all the filenames after renaming 
  getCurrentFilenames(); 
}); 
   
// Function to get current filenames 
// in directory 
function getCurrentFilenames() { 
  console.log("Current filenames:"); 
  fs.readdirSync(__dirname).forEach(file => { 
    console.log(file); 
  }); 
} 

Output:

Current filenames:
hello.txt
index.js

File Renamed!

Current filenames:
index.js
world.txt

Example 2: This example uses fs.rename() method to demonstrate an error during file renaming.

// Node.js program to demonstrate the     
// fs.rename() method  
     
// Import filesystem module 
const fs = require('fs'); 
   
// List all the filenames before renaming 
getCurrentFilenames(); 
   
// Rename the file 
fs.rename('hello.txt', 'geeks.txt', (error) => { 
  if (error) { 
      
    // Show the error  
    console.log(error); 
  } 
  else { 
  
    // List all the filenames after renaming 
    console.log("\nFile Renamed\n"); 
   
    // List all the filenames after renaming 
    getCurrentFilenames(); 
  } 
}); 
   
// Function to get current filenames 
// in directory 
function getCurrentFilenames() { 
  console.log("Current filenames:"); 
  fs.readdirSync(__dirname).forEach(file => { 
    console.log(file); 
  }); 
} 

Output:

Current filenames:
index.js
package.json
world.txt
[Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, rename 
'G:\tutorials\nodejs-fs-rename\hello.txt' ->
'G:\tutorials\nodejs-fs-rename\geeks.txt'] {
  errno: -4058,
  code: 'ENOENT',
  syscall: 'rename',
  path: 'G:\\tutorials\\nodejs-fs-rename\\hello.txt',
  dest: 'G:\\tutorials\\nodejs-fs-rename\\geeks.txt'
}

Reference: https://nodejs.org/api/fs.html#fs_fs_rename_oldpath_newpath_callback

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