File.Move renames a file

It is a tested .NET Framework method. The C# File class in the System.IO namespace provides this convenient method.

Some considerations

This method performs a fast rename of the file you target. It sometimes throws exceptions. We can handle exceptions around it.

An example

We use File.Move. You must include the System.IO namespace at the top with a using directive or specify the fully qualified name.

using System;
using System.IO;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        //
        // Move a file found on the C:\ volume.
        // If the file is not found (SAM.txt doesn't exist),
        // then you will get an exception.
        //
        try
        {
            File.Move(@"C:\SAM.txt", @"C:\SAMUEL.txt"); // Try to move
            Console.WriteLine("Moved"); // Success
        }
        catch (IOException ex)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(ex); // Write error
        }
    }
}
System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not find file 'C:\SAM.txt'.
File name: 'C:\SAM.txt'
   at System.IO.__Error.WinIOError...

Exceptions

Whenever you are dealing with the file system, errors will occur. You must be prepared to recover from these errors (even if recovery means exiting).

Cannot create a file when that file already exists.

Uses

Sometimes File.Move is preferable to File.Copy and other approaches. If you use File.Copy, you will be copying the data on the disk, which will be more resource-intensive and slower.

Summary

We renamed files in using the .NET File.Move method. We looked at the usage of this method on a file that exists and does not exist, and then noted some exceptions caused by this method.