How to: Rename a Directory in Visual Basic

The RenameDirectory method of the My.Computer.FileSystem object can be used to rename a directory by supplying the current location and name of the directory, along with the new name for the directory. This method cannot be used to move a directory; use the MoveDirectory method to move and rename the directory.

To rename a directory

• Use the My.Computer.FileSystem.RenameDirectory method to rename a directory. The following code renames the Test directory to SecondTest.

  My.Computer.FileSystem.RenameDirectory("C:MyDocuments\Test",
  "SecondTest")
  

This code example is also available as an IntelliSense code snippet. In the code snippet picker, the example is located in File system - Processing Drives, Folders, and Files. For more information, see How to: Insert IntelliSense Code Snippets.

Robust Programming

The following conditions can cause an exception:

• The path is not valid for one of the following reasons: it is a zero-length string, it contains only white space, it contains invalid characters, or it is a device path (starts with \\.\) (ArgumentException).

• newName contains path information (ArgumentException).

• The path is not valid because it is Nothing (ArgumentNullException).

• newName is Nothing or an empty string (ArgumentNullException).

• The source directory is not valid or does not exist (DirectoryNotFoundException).

• There is an existing file or folder with the name specified in newName (IOException).

• The folder is a root folder (IOException).

• The path exceeds the system-defined maximum length (PathTooLongException).

• A file or folder name in the path contains a colon (:) or is in an invalid format (NotSupportedException).

• The user lacks necessary permissions to view the path (SecurityException).

• The user does not have required permission (UnauthorizedAccessException).

See Also

Tasks

How to: Copy a Directory to Another Directory in Visual Basic

How to: Parse File Paths in Visual Basic

How to: Move a Directory in Visual Basic

How to: Move the Contents of a Directory in Visual Basic

Reference

RenameDirectory