Rename files in linux / bash using mv command without typing the full name two times

mv.sh

# Put this function to your .bashrc file.
# Usage: mv oldfilename
# If you call mv without the second parameter it will prompt you to edit the filename on command line.
# Original mv is called when it's called with more than one argument.
# It's useful when you want to change just a few letters in a long name.
#
# Also see:
# - imv from renameutils
# - Ctrl-W Ctrl-Y Ctrl-Y (cut last word, paste, paste)

function mv() {
  if [ "$#" -ne 1 ] || [ ! -e "$1" ]; then
    command mv "$@"
    return
  fi

  read -ei "$1" newfilename
  command mv -v -- "$1" "$newfilename"
}

Firstly, thank you - this is nice™.

zsh equivalent:

function mv() {
  if [ "$#" -ne 1 ] || [ ! -f "$1" ]; then
    command mv "$@"
    return
  fi

  newfilename="$1"
  vared newfilename
  command mv -v -- "$1" "$newfilename"
}

Kudos to Gilles 'SO- stop being evil' for StackExchange answer.

BTW, fish also has vared, so this should probably work for fish, too, and be lighter-weight than Humandoodlebug's excellent bash subshell solution.

Yeah, many ways to do this but would argue readline's Ctrl-W Ctrl-Y Ctrl-Y is cleanest since it's useful to know anyway and available almost anywhere. :)

That is quite nice! Biggest fan of this since it's very little typing and applies in way more situations than the OP

@rileytg man readline (sorry for the terse answer but that's the library bash uses and where you will find, in long form, what options are available)

thank you! i didnt realize readline was so foundational to a lot of what i use every day

I like it, it's especially useful if you have spaces in the file (or directory) name (btw the bash cut last word would not work then). Probably I would also flip the conditional and add directory checking:

if [ "$#" -eq 1 ] && ( [ -f "$1" ] || [ -d "$1" ] ); then
  read -ei "$1" newfilename; command mv -v "${1}" "${newfilename}"; return $?
fi
command mv "$@"; return $?

You can also do Ctrl-W followed by Ctrl-Y after typing the path, if you are using readline style keybindings. Mainstream shells come with readline style bindings by default.

Ctrl-W deletes the previous word for me

@szkrd

[...] and add directory checking

-e was what I wanted, not -f. Thanks

In zsh you need compdef mv=ls, it seems, or the completion breaks.

@premek your snippet is great, short, concise and to the point. Thanks for sharing it.

Yeah, many ways to do this but would argue readline's Ctrl-W Ctrl-Y Ctrl-Y is cleanest since it's useful to know anyway and available almost anywhere. :)

Excellent.

There are even more flexible ways (in bash, at least), for example (here renaming .txt to .json):

$ touch config.txt
$ mv config.txt !#:1:s/txt/json

This one eludes me, care to explain how it works?

I would recommend adding --interactive to the mv commands in the script. As it is now, it is possible to overwrite existing files with no confirmation using this script.

With the fish shell, you can type Alt-E to edit any command line in your favorite editor where you likely already know shortcuts for copying, pasting and modifying. The great thing is that is a general solution that works for any command line edits.

In bash it is C-x C-e