rename()

NAME

rename() - change the name of a file

SYNOPSIS

#include <stdio.h>

int rename (const char *from, const char *to)

DESCRIPTION

Rename(2) causes the link named from to be renamed as to. If to exists, it is first removed. Both from and to must be of the same type (that is, both directories or both non-directories), and must reside on the same file system.

Rename(2) guarantees that an instance of to will always exist, even if the system should crash in the middle of the operation.

The process doesn't require write access for the from or to directories in order for the call to succeed.

RETURN VALUES

A 0 value is returned if the operation succeeds, otherwise rename(2) returns -1 and the global variable errno indicates the reason for the failure.

ERRORS

Rename(2) will fail and neither of the argument files will be affected if:

[EACCES]
A component of either path prefix denies search permission.
[EACCES]
The requested link requires writing in a directory with a mode that denies write permission.
[EFAULT]
Path points outside the process's allocated address space.
[EINVAL]
Either pathname contains a character with the high-order bit set.
[EINVAL]
From is a parent directory of to, or an attempt is made to rename . or ...
[EIO]
An I/O error occurred while making or updating a directory entry.
[EISDIR]
To is a directory, but from is not a directory.
[ELOOP]
Too many symbolic links were encountered in translating either pathname.
[ENAMETOOLONG]
A component of either pathname exceeded {NAME_MAX} characters, or the entire length of either pathname exceeded {PATH_MAX} characters.
[ENOENT]
A component of the from path does not exist, or a path prefix of to does not exist.
[ENOSPC]
The directory in which the entry for the new name is being placed cannot be extended because there is no space left on the file system containing the directory.
[ENOTDIR]
A component of either path prefix is not a directory.
[ENOTDIR]
from is a directory, but to is not a directory.
[ENOTEMPTY]
To is a directory and is not empty.
[EPERM]
The directory containing from is marked sticky, and neither the containing directory nor from are owned by the effective user ID.
[EPERM]
The file cannot be moved or renamed to different file system (for example, /dev/fs/C/dog to /dev/fs/D/dog
[EROFS]
The requested link requires writing in a directory on a read-only file system.
[EXDEV]
The link named by to and the file named by from are on different logical devices (file systems). Note that this error code will not be returned if the implementation permits cross-device links.

SEE ALSO

open(2)