Learn how to rename and move files in a Git repository using `git mv` to keep history and stage changes correctly.

Renaming and Moving Files with Git

When you rename or move files in a Git repository, using Git's built-in commands ensures the change is tracked properly and staged for commit.

Using git mv

The `git mv` command renames or moves a file and stages the change automatically:

git mv old_filename new_filename

This works for both renaming and moving files to different directories.

git mv README.md README.txt
git commit -m \\"Rename README.md to README.txt\\"

mkdir docs
git mv README.txt docs/README.txt
git commit -m \\"Move README.txt to docs directory\\"

You can manually rename or move files using shell commands, but you must then stage the changes:

mv old_filename new_filename
git add new_filename
git rm old_filename
git commit -m \\"Rename or move file manually\\"

Using `git mv` simplifies renaming and moving files by handling both the filesystem and staging in one step, preserving history.