Renaming the current file in Vim

Question

How should I rename my current file in Vim   For example    I am editing person html erb spec rb I would like it renamed to person haml spec rb I would like to continue editing person haml spec rb   How would I go about doing this  elegantly

User · Answer

If the file is already saved     mv  file location   new file location   e  new file location    Example     mv src test scala myFile scala src test scala myNewFile scala  e src test scala myNewFile scala   Permission Requirements     sudo mv src test scala myFile scala src test scala myNewFile scala   Save As     mv  file location   save as file location   w  e  save as file location      For Windows Unverified     move  file location   new file location   e  new file location

User · Answer

I don t know if this is the  easiest  method  but assuming you ve already saved your file   w  I would invoke the shell   sh  and do a simple cp foo foo bak  To go back to editor use Ctrl-D Exit  Useful list of vi editor commands on this link

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mv     h new name  Register   contains the name of the current file    h shows the directory  head  containing the current file  e g     hreturns  abc def when your file full path is abc def my txt

User · Answer

sav person haml spec rb   call delete expand

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How about this  improved by Jake s suggestion     exe   mv   newfilename    e newfilename

User · Answer

The command is called  saveas  but unfortunately it will not delete your old file  you ll have to do that manually  see  help saveas for more info   EDIT   Most vim installations have an integrated file explorer  which you can use for such operations  Try  Explore in command mode  I would actually map that to a function key  it s very handy   You can rename files with R or delete them with D  for example  But pressing  lt F1 gt  in the explorer will give you a better overview

User · Answer

I m doing it with NERDTree plugin    NERDTreeFind   then press m  To rename you can choose  m ove the current node and change file name  Also there are options like delete  copy  move  etc

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Write the file while editing -  w newname - to create a copy  Start editing the new copy -  e    Optionally  remove  the old copy -   rm oldname    On Windows  the optional 3rd step changes a little     Optionally  remove old Windows copy -   del oldname

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Another way is to just use netrw  which is a native part of vim     e path to whatever folder    Then there are options to delete  rename  etc   Here s a keymap to open netrw to the folder of the file you are editing   map  lt leader gt e  e  lt C-R gt  expand    p h         lt CR gt  lt CR gt

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This little script isn t perfect  the extra carriage-return you have to press  but it get s the job done        function Rename     let new file name   input  New filename       let full path current file   expand    p     let new full path   expand    p h       new file name   bd       execute   mv   full path current file     new full path   execute  e   new full path endfunction                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   command  Rename  call Rename   nmap RN  Rename lt CR gt

User · Answer

Short  secure  without plugin    sav new name   rm  lt C-R gt       or  del  lt C-R gt   for windows   control   R    will instantly expand to an alternate-file  previously edited path in current window  before pressing Enter  That allows us to review what exactly we re going to delete  Using pipe   in such a case is not secure  because if sav fails for any reason    will still point to another place  or to nothing   That means  rm   or delete expand     may delete completely different file  So do it by hand carefully or use good script  they are mentioned in many answers here     Educational     or try build a function command script yourself  Start from sth simple like   command  -nargs 1 Rename saveas  lt args gt    call delete expand         bd     after vimrc reload  just type  Rename new filename  What is the problem with this command   Security test 1  What does Rename without argument   Yes  it deletes file hidden in         Solution  you can use eg  conditions or try statement like that   command  -nargs 1 Rename try   saveas  lt args gt    call delete expand         bd     endtry   Security test 1   Rename  without argument  will throw an error      E471  Argument required   Security test 2  What if the name will be the same like previous one   Security test 3  What if the file will be in different location than your actual   Fix it yourself  For readability you can write it in this manner   function  s localscript name name     try     execute  saveas     a name           endtry endfunction command  -nargs 1 Rename call s localscript name  lt f-args gt       notes    rm   is better than  rm old name -  you don t need remember the old name   rm  lt C-R gt   is better than  rm   when do it by hand -  you will see what you actually remove  safety reason   rm is generally not very secure    mv to a trash location is better call delete expand       is better than shell command  OS agnostic  but longer to type and impossible to use control   R try   code1   code2   tryend -  when error occurs while code1  don t run code2  sav  or  saveas  is equivalent to  f new name   w - see file f - and preserves undo history expand    p   gives whole path of your location     or location of alternate file

User · Answer

You can also use  f followed by  w

User · Answer

There   s a function in Gary Bernhardt   s  vimrc that handles this   function  RenameFile   let old name   expand      let new name   input  New file name     expand        file   if new name        amp  amp  new name    old name     exec   saveas     new name     exec   silent  rm     old name     redraw  endif endfunction map  lt leader gt n  call RenameFile   lt cr gt

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There s a sightly larger plugin called vim-eunuch by Tim Pope that includes a rename function as well as some other goodies  delete  find  save all  chmod  sudo edit         To rename a file in vim-eunuch    Move filename ext  Compared to rename vim    rename    filename ext  Saves a few keystrokes

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Vim does have a rename function  but unfortunately it does not retain the history   The easiest OS agnostic way to rename a file without losing the history would be    saveas new file name  call delete expand    p      expand    p   returns the full path of the older file   Use  bd   if you also want to delete the older file from the buffer list   Or create a plugin  If you want to use a quick command to rename the file  add a new file under    vim plugin with the following contents   function  s rename file new file path    execute  saveas     a new file path   call delete expand    p      bd   endfunction  command  -nargs 1 -complete file Rename call  lt SID gt rename file  lt f-args gt     The command Rename will help you to quickly rename a file

User · Answer

I d recommend  Rename from tpope s eunuch for this   It also includes a bunch of other handy commands   The Rename command is defined as follows therein currently  check the repo for any updates     command  -bar -nargs 1 -bang -complete file Rename       let s file   expand    p         setlocal modified       keepalt saveas lt bang gt   lt args gt        if s file     expand    p           call delete s file        endif       unlet s file

User · Answer

For renaming existing file without using plugins you should use command   Explore   This command allow you explore files in directory  delete or rename them  than you should navigate to neccessary file in explorer than type R command which will allow you to rename file name

User · Answer

There s a little plugin that let s you do this

User · Answer

You can also do it using netrw  The explore command opens up netrw in the directory of the open file   E   Move the cursor over the file you want to rename   R   Type in the new name  press enter  press y

User · Answer

If you use git and already have the tpope s plugin fugitive vim then simply    Gmove newname   This will    Rename your file on disk  Rename the file in git repo  Reload the file into the current buffer  Preserve undo history    If your file was not yet added to a git repo then first add it    Gwrite

User · Answer

sav newfile    rm     Note that it does not remove the old file from the buffer list  If that s important to you  you can use the following instead    sav newfile   bd     rm

[vim] Renaming the current file in Vim

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