In Python, the os module provides various functions for interacting with the operating system. One commonly used function is os.rename(), which allows you to rename a file using Python code.

Syntax

The syntax of os.rename() is as follows:

os.rename(src, dst)

Here, src is the current name of the file or directory, and dst is the new name that you want to assign to the file or directory.

Example

Let’s consider a simple example where we want to rename a file named “old_name.txt” to “new_name.txt”.

import os

old_name = "old_name.txt"
new_name = "new_name.txt"

os.rename(old_name, new_name)

In the code snippet above, we first import the os module. Then, we define the old and new names of the file we want to rename. Finally, we call os.rename() with the old and new names as arguments to rename the file.

Error Handling

It’s important to note that the os.rename() function can raise an exception if there are any errors during the renaming process. Some common exceptions include FileNotFoundError if the source file doesn’t exist or PermissionError if the code doesn’t have the required permissions to rename the file.

To handle exceptions, you can use a try-except block:

import os

old_name = "old_name.txt"
new_name = "new_name.txt"

try:
    os.rename(old_name, new_name)
except FileNotFoundError:
    print("File not found!")
except PermissionError:
    print("Permission denied!")

In the example above, we catch the FileNotFoundError and PermissionError exceptions separately and print an appropriate error message.

Conclusion

Using the os.rename() function in Python, you can easily rename files or directories programmatically. It’s a powerful feature that can come in handy when dealing with file management tasks in your Python applications. Make sure to handle exceptions appropriately to handle any potential errors that may occur during the renaming process.