powershell Rename-Item fail to rename

Question

My powershell script: ``` $dst = 'C:\Temp' #Get all folders in $dst $folders = Get-ChildItem $dst | ?{ $_.PSIsContainer } foreach($folder in $folders) { $cnt = (Get-ChildItem -filter *.txt $folder | Measure-Object).Count $base = ($folder.FullName -split " $$.*$$$")[0] $newname = $("{0} [{1}]" -f $base,$cnt) Write-Host $folder.FullName "->" $newname Rename-Item $folder.FullName $newname } ``` The problem On my first run I get this: ``` PS C:\Temp> C:\Temp\RenameFolders.ps1 C:\Temp\m1 -> C:\Temp\m1 [1] ``` On my second run I get this: ``` PS C:\Temp> C:\Temp\RenameFolders.ps1 C:\Temp\m1 [1] -> C:\Temp\m1 [0] Rename-Item : Cannot rename because item at 'C:\Temp\m1 [1]' does not exist. At C:\Temp\RenameFolders.ps1:15 char:5 + Rename-Item $folder.FullName $newname + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation: (:) [Rename-Item], PSInvalidOperationException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : InvalidOperation,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.RenameItemCommand ``` I know that…

Accepted Answer

If you are running PS 3+ add -LiteralPath switch to your rename:

```
Rename-Item -LiteralPath $folder.FullName $newname
```

otherwise use `Move-Item`

```
Move-Item -LiteralPath $folder.FullName $newname
```

Powershell doesn't like square brackets in filenames, more in the following post:

This became an issue with V2 when they added the square brackets to the wildcard character set to support "blobbing".

From `get-help about_wildcards`:

Windows PowerShell supports the following wildcard characters.

Wildcard Description Example Match No match

Matches zero or a* A, ag, Apple banana more characters

? Matches exactly ?n an, in, on ran one character in the specified position

[ ] Matches a range [a-l]ook book, cook, look took of characters

[ ] Matches specified [bc]ook book, cook hook characters

`[` and `]` are special characters.

powershell Rename-Item fail to rename

Solution

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