On Thursday, 16 February 2017 at 17:06:30 UTC, Jonathan M Davis
wrote:
Well, there's zero difference between renaming the file or
directory and moving it. It's simply a difference in name.
rename actually comes from POSIX, where rename is used in C
code, and mv is used in the shell. So, I guess that you can
blame POSIX. But there really isn't any reason to have a mv or
move function in addition to rename.
`mv` or `move` would be more intuitive. I actually looked for
names similar to the operations available in the shell (cp/copy,
mv/move). It took me a few minutes to realize I had to use
`rename` (which is poorly documented). But it is
counter-intuitive. When you use a GUI, `rename` doesn't change
the location. `rename` is a bit "techy", you have to go "wait a
minute, when you think about it, rename should do the same". But
that's not good enough for a library function. One of D's slogans
is `simple things should be simple`, so moving a file should be
`move(dir, toDir)`. Seriously, you don't want to spend much time
on stuff like that.
If you want mv instead, just alias rename to mv.
However, I would point out that rename has the problem (at
least on *nix - not sure about Windows) that it can't move
across filesystem boundaries. I think that at some point, an
alternative which did work across filesystem boundaries was
proposed, and that may have been called move. It's not
currently in Phobos though.
- Jonathan M Davis
That is actually a bit of a problem. First, I might want to store
backup files on a different device. Second, loads of applications
need this nowadays to interact with MP3 players, ebook readers
etc.
