rename(2)rename(2)Namerename - change the name of a file
Syntax
rename(from, to)
char *from, *to;
Description
The system call causes the link named from to be renamed to. If to
exists, then it is first removed. Both from and to must be of the same
type (that is, both directories or both nondirectories) and must reside
on the same file system.
The system call guarantees that an instance of to will always exist,
even if the system should crash in the middle of the operation.
Return Values
A zero (0) value is returned if the operation succeeds. Otherwise
returns -1, and the global variable errno indicates the reason for the
failure.
Restrictions
The system can deadlock if a loop in the file system graph is
present.and two processes issue the call at the same time. For exam‐
ple, suppose a directory, contains a file, Suppose that file is hard-
linked to a directory, and the directory contains a file, If is hard-
linked to a loop exists. Now suppose one process issues the following
call:
rename (dirname/filename secondir/secondfile)
At the same time, another process issues the following call:
rename (secondir/secondfile dirname/filename)
In this case, the system can deadlock. The system administrator should
replace hard links to directories with symbolic links.
Diagnostics
The system call fails and neither of the argument files are affected
under the following conditions:
[ENOTDIR] A component of either path prefix is not a directory.
[ENOENT] A component of the from path does not exist, or a path
prefix of to does not exist.
[ENOENT] Either from or to points to an empty string and the
environment defined is POSIX or SYSTEM_FIVE.
[EACCES] A component of either path prefix denies search permis‐
sion.
[EPERM] The to file exists, the directory containing from is
marked sticky, and neither the containing directory nor
the to directory is owned by the effective user ID.
[EPERM] The directory containing from is marked sticky, and nei‐
ther the containing directory nor the from directory is
owned by the effective user ID.
[EXDEV] The link named by to and the file named by from are on
different logical devices (file systems). Note that
this error code is not returned if the implementation
permits cross-device links.
[EACCES] The requested link requires writing in a directory with
a mode that denies write permission.
[EROFS] The requested link requires writing in a directory on a
read-only file system.
[EFAULT] The path points outside the process's allocated address
space.
[EINVAL] The from is a parent directory of to, or an attempt is
made to rename dot (.) or dot-dot (..).
[ENAMETOOLONG] A component of either pathname exceeded 255 characters,
or the entire length of either pathname exceeded 1023
characters.
[ELOOP] Too many symbolic links were encountered in translating
either pathname.
[ENOTDIR] The from is a directory, but to is not a directory.
[EISDIR] The to is a directory, but from is not a directory.
[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.
[EDQUOT] The directory in which the entry for the new name is
being placed cannot be extended, because the user's
quota of disk blocks on the file system containing the
directory has been exhausted.
[EIO] An I/O error occurred while making or updating a direc‐
tory entry.
[ENOTEMPTY] The to is a directory and is not empty.
[EBUSY] The directory named by from or to is a mount point.
See Alsoopen(2)rename(2)
