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Rename command (Team Foundation Version Control)

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Azure DevOps Services | Azure DevOps Server 2022 - Azure DevOps Server 2019

Visual Studio 2019 | Visual Studio 2022

The Team Foundation Version Control (TFVC) rename command changes the name or the path of a file or folder. You can use the rename command, or the aliases move or ren, to move a file or folder to a new location.

Note

The results of this command aren't reflected in the server until you do a check-in. For more information, see Develop code and manage pending changes.

Prerequisites

To use the rename command, you must have the Check out permission set to Allow. For more information, see Default TFVC permissions.

Syntax

tf rename [/lock:(none|checkout|checkin)] [/login:username,[password]] olditem newitem

Parameters

Arguments

Argument

Description

<olditem>

The original name and path of the file or folder to be renamed. You can specify a local workspace path such as C:\myfiles\314.cs or a TFVC server path such as $/myfiles/314.cs.

<newitem>

The new name of the file or folder. You can use this to specify a different local or a TFVC server path location.

<username>

Provides a value to the /login option. You can specify a user name value as either DOMAIN\username or username.

Options

Option

Description

/lock

Include this option to prevent other users from checking in or checking out the specified items. If this option isn't specified, the existing lock status of the item isn't changed. For more information, see Understand lock types.

Lock options:

  • None: No lock is applied.
  • Checkin: Other users can check out the specified items, but they can't check in revisions to locked files until you release the lock by doing a check-in. If any other users have locked any one of the specified items, the lock operation fails.
  • Checkout: Prevents other users from checking in or checking out any one of the specified items until you release the lock by doing a check-in. If any other users have locked any one of the specified items, the lock operation fails.

/login

Specifies the user name and password to authenticate the user with Azure DevOps.

Remarks

You can use the rename command of the tf command-line utility to move or rename a version-controlled item in your workspace. Use the rename command to move multiple files by specifying wildcard characters. The ability to rename multiple version-controlled files or folders is available only from the command line.

Use the rename command to do the following actions:

  • Rename the olditem to the newitem, such as tf rename 314.cs 315.cs.
  • Move the olditem to a new location in the TFVC server by providing a newitem whose path differs from that of the olditem, such as tf rename 314.cs ..\newdir\314.cs.

If you provide a newitem that specifies a nonexistent folder, the rename command creates the destination folder. If newitem is a folder, olditem becomes a child of newitem.

You can't rename an item if:

  • You already deleted it before it was checked in to the same workspace.
  • The new name already exists in the TFVC server and isn't a folder.
  • You already added, branched, or renamed the pending check-in of the item.
  • The item is mapped in the workspace but not available on the local disk.
  • The item is cloaked.

You can rename an item for which another file of the same name has been added pending check-in, but you can't rename an item that has been branched but not yet checked in. When you rename a file that has pending edits, the edits are preserved.

An item that is explicitly mapped can't be renamed without first changing the mapping. For example, if there's a working folder mapping of $/ProjectX/MyApp to c:\MyApp, you can't rename MyApp. You can rename items under MyApp, but not MyApp itself.

For more information on how to use the tf command-line utility, see Use Team Foundation version control commands.

Examples

The following example changes the name of 314.cs to 1254.cs.

c:\projects>tf rename  314.cs  1254.cs

The following example renames 314.cs to 1254.cs and moves it to the newdir folder.

c:\projects>tf rename 314.cs ..\newdir\1254.cs

The following example changes the name of Form1.vb to MainPage.vb and applies a lock to it.

c:\projects>tf rename Form1.vb MainPage.vb /lock:checkin