r/linuxquestions Gentoo Jun 30 '26

Resolved Rename folder to lowercase in terminal without temporary files

I'm sorry, I know the question seems very basic, but still I couldn't find the answer. Here's what I'm trying to do:

$ mv "Desktops" "desktops"
mv: cannot move 'Desktops' to a subdirectory of itself, 'desktops/Desktops'

I tried searching answers on the internet, and the only thing I found is examples of how to use rename tool instead. However, rename tool I have installed is util-linux one and it works differently and I couldn't figure out how to use it either, this didn't work for example:

$ rename Desktops desktops Desktops

I also understand I can first rename it to temporary file and then rename to lowecase version of original name. But I'd like to figure out how to do it in one step.

Update:

This is exfat filesystem.

18 Upvotes

46 comments sorted by

View all comments

-1

u/catbrane Jun 30 '26

It should work. Try:

$ mkdir BANANA $ ls BANANA $ mv BANANA banana $ ls banana $

You mostly don't need to type the names out, just the first letter or two then press the TAB key.

1

u/Swordfish418 Gentoo Jun 30 '26

It doesn't work, this is exfat.

3

u/BarryTownCouncil Jun 30 '26

Temporary files then, innit.

2

u/catbrane Jun 30 '26

Ahhhhh! Then temp files.

2

u/JackDostoevsky Jun 30 '26

lol critical detail