Node fs.rename() Method

The `fs.rename()` method is employed for the asynchronous renaming of a file, moving it from the specified old path to a designated new path. If a file already exists at the new path, it will be overwritten by the operation.

Syntax:

fs.rename( oldPath, newPath, callback )

Parameters: This method accepts 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.

The fs.rename() method is used to rename or move files in Node.js.

Example 1: Below examples illustrate the fs.rename() method in Node.js:

// 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'
}

We have a complete reference article on File System methods, where we have covered all the File System methods to check those please go through File System Complete Reference article