Java Program to Rename File

The Java File class provides the renameTo() method to change the name of the file. It returns true if the renaming operation succeeds otherwise returns false.

Example: Rename a File in Java

import java.io.File;

class Main {
  public static void main(String[] args) {

    // create a file object
    File file = new File("oldName");
      
    // create a file
    try {
      file.createNewFile();
    }
    catch(Exception e) {
      e.getStackTrace();
    }

    // create an object that contains the new name of file
    File newFile = new File("newName");

    // change the name of file
    boolean value = file.renameTo(newFile);

    if(value) {
      System.out.println("The name of the file is changed.");
    }
    else {
      System.out.println("The name cannot be changed.");
    }
  }
}

In the above example, we have created a file object named file. The object holds information about the specified file path.

File file = new File("oldName");

We then create a new file with the specified file path.

// create a new file with the specified path
file.createNewFile();

Here, we have created another file object named newFile. The object holds information about the specified file path.

File newFile = new File("newFile");

To change the name of the file, we have used the renameTo() method. The name specified by the newFile object is used to rename the file specified by the file object.

file.renameTo(newFile);

If the operation succeeds, then the following message is shown.

The name of the file is changed.

If the operation cannot succeed, the following message is shown.

The name cannot be changed.