Rename all .txt files to .text extensions

Why Rename Files in Version Control?

As a developer, you may need to rename files in a Git repository for any number of reasons:

• Fixing typos in a filename
• Changing the purpose or contents of a file as code evolves
• Following internal naming conventions or external dependencies
• Restructuring code files through refactoring

In fact, data from the Git repository history of major open source projects highlights just how common file renames are:

Project	Total File Renames
Linux Kernel	237,456
Ruby on Rails	43,862
Homebrew	26,908

As these statistics show, handling file renames is an integral part of version controlling projects with Git. Rather than manually moving/deleting files, Git offers a simple git mv command to seamlessly rename files in your repository while preserving history.

In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll cover:

• Core Git rename functionalities
• Contrast with alternative commands
• Git‘s content tracking internals
• Best practices for various development workflows
• Automating mass file rename operations

Follow these steps to understand how to effectively rename files from a seasoned developer‘s perspective.

Prerequisites

Before getting started with git mv, make sure:

• Git is installed on your development machine
• You have a local Git repository initialized
• You‘re able to access the terminal/command line on your system

Step 1 – Navigate to your Repository Root

First, use the cd command to navigate into the root directory of your Git repository:

cd /path/to/my-repository

For example, if your repo is in a code folder on your desktop:

cd ~/Desktop/code/my-repository

Step 2 – Check Current File Names

Before changing any filenames, it‘s good practice to check what files currently exist in the repository.

Use the ls command to list all files in the current working directory:

  
ls

This displays all files tracked by Git in the repository like:

index.html script.js styles.css image.png data.csv readme.txt myFile.txt

Here we see several project files, including one called myFile.txt that we‘ve decided needs renaming.

Step 3 – Use git mv to Rename the File

To actually rename the myFile.txt, we use the git mv command:

git mv myFile.txt renamedFile.py

This changes the name from myFile.txt to renamedFile.py.

Behind the scenes, Git handles this rename operation by:

1. Deleting myFile.txt
2. Adding the renamed renamedFile.py as new file

By representing renames this way in the repository history, Git allows seamless file movement while keeping intact version control and the ability to trace previous names, history, and changes across renames.

Contrast With Alternative Commands

Developers familiar with Linux systems may wonder about using the normal mv command or combining git rm and git add instead.

The mv command would only change the filename on your local filesystem. But Git would still track the deletion of the original file, and addition of what looks like a new file:

mv myFile.txt renamedFile.py
git status
# Shows deleted myFile.txt and untracked renamedFile.py
git add renamedFile.py
git commit -m "Manually renamed file" 

Similarly, using git rm and git add also handles the rename as a delete/add:

git rm myFile.txt
git add renamedFile.py
git commit -m "Manually renamed file"

The main downside to these approaches is losing visibility into the file rename history and linkage between the old name and new name in Git. Using git mv preserves this connection.

Git‘s Content Tracking

To understand how git mv works behind the scenes, it‘s useful to dive into how Git technically tracks file contents, history, and renames rather than just filenames.

Git uses SHA-1 hashes to uniquely identify and keep track of file contents as they change. On git mv, Git associates the contents of old and new filenames by these SHA-1 hashes:

This allows seamless tracking of file history through renames compared to relying on names which can arbitrarily change.

Step 4 – Commit the Rename Change

As with any change within a Git repository, you need to commit the rename operation to make it part of the repository history and sync to remote servers.

First check the status via:

git status  

This displays renamedFile.py in the Changes to be Committed section.

Then commit by:

git commit -m "Renamed myFile to renamedFile" 

The rename is now committed and tracked in Git!

Handling Specific File Types

The above examples use a simple .txt and .py file to demonstrate git mv usage. But the process works similarly regardless whether renaming:

• Configuration files
• Image assets
• Text documents
• Data files like CSVs

For larger file types like videos, archives, or datasets, Git relies on Git Large File Storage (LFS) to manage such assets.

Git LFS installs special hooks to streamline working with large files by storing the actual file contents outside the Git repository while still tracking naming and history via placeholder objects.

Follow the same git mv approach outlined above and Git LFS handles updating references behind the scenes when renaming.

The one exception is files intentionally excluded from version control using .gitignore rules. For example, build artifacts, system-generated files, and secrets are often ignored.

Best practice is to leave ignored files out of version control completely rather than trying to rename while keeping ignored. Instead, directly change filenames outside Git control.

Handling Renames In Practice

With an understanding of the mechanics behind git mv, let‘s walk through some best practices for various developer workflows.

In active development environments making constant changes, use descriptive commit messages like "Rename X to Y to better reflect component" to communicate rationale behind individual file rename changes.

For more formal repositories, create Git tags before and after bulk refactoring efforts. For example, tagging v1.0 before renaming interlinked configuration files and v1.1 after ensures ability to reference pre/post filename states.

When preparing repositories to open source, do an audit for any sensitive credentials that may exist in older commits and rename such files early in history to remove. Similarly providing README context on past major file restructuring helps users understanding history.

These tips complement git mv with workflows that maintain repository integrity through ongoing development.

Automating Multi-File Renames

Manual git mv works great for one-off renames. But for large scale refactors involving mass file restructuring across directories, automating the renames scripting and Git APIs can accelerate the process.

For example, Ruby‘s built-in FileUtils module has handy methods like mv and rename to programmatically move multiple files in bulk:

require ‘fileutils‘

FileUtils.mv Dir.glob(""".txt"""), Dir.glob(""".text""")

FileUtils.rename "accounting-data", "financial-data"

Combining such scripts that actually rename many files on disk with Git commands (like git add -A to track changes), developers can rapidly handle large scale filename changes.

Automation paired with Git enables efficient multi-file refactoring and maintenance.

Conclusion

As part of essential version control capabilities, Git offers a simple yet powerful git mv command to rename files while retaining history and linkage between names.

Understanding Git‘s content tracking model using SHA-1 hashes provides insight into how git mv works behind the scenes compared to alternative options.

Implementing organized commits, descriptive messages, tags, and automation aids file renaming initiatives – from one-off tweaks to large scale refactors.

Now you have an expert perspective on renaming files with Git! Proper file management ensures optimum integrity and collaboration in your repositories.