==== HOWTO: Rename Pages ====

:?: Is there a way to rename a page through DokuWiki?

Renaming would possibly break a lot of links linking to the old page, but Dokuwiki doesn't know which pages link where so this could be handled. An easy way to "rename" a page is to simply create the new one and then change the content of the old page to something like this:

  moved to [[newpage]]

Then visit the [[wiki:backlinks|pages linking to the old page]], and update them to refer to the new page.  This can be done gradually.  

> Does renaming/moving the txt file in the file system do bad things other than breaking links? Does the history move with the moved file? -- Zugschlus, 2005-08-11

>> The history does not get moved with the main file. The history is associated with the file**//name//**, not the file itself.  --- //[[webmaster@lajzar.co.uk|ta' lajzar]] 2005-08-11 16:37//

==== A more technical approach ====

**Note**: This tip assumes one is using a Unix-like OS with text file utilities installed, or is using Cygwin under Windows.

:!: Note that following this tip prevents DokuWiki from keeping a coherent page history (old revisions). Remember to back up all raw text files and data.

:?: How-To Rename a set of pages?
Use sed regular expressions to match a filename pattern and replace it with a new filename pattern.

:!: Example: Rename all pages starting with <project_name> to another prefix:
  for f in `ls *.txt`; do sed -e 's:\[\[project_name\(.*\)\]\]:[[prj_code.\1]]:g' $f > $f.new; done
  for f in `ls *.new | sed -e 's:\(.*\)\.new:\1:g'`; do mv $f.new $f; done
  for f in `ls *.txt | sed -e 's:project_name\(.*\)\.txt:\1.txt:g'`; do mv project_name-$f prj_code-$f; done

Explanation:
  * The first command uses sed to find all occurrences of a DokuWiki FreeLink that starts with %%project_name%% and replaces them with a new FreeLink that is like the old one except that instead of prefix %%project_name%% it has prefix %%prj_code%%.
  * The second command is used to replace the old raw text files (with old FreeLink) with the new raw text files (with new FreeLink).
  * Finally, the third command renames the files that match those FreeLinks, by replacing the prefix %%project_name%% with prefix %%prj_code%% in their filename.

==== Use a Plugin ====

The [[plugin:pagemove]] plugin allows a simpler way for an administrator to move/rename pages.