How do I rename an open file in Emacs?

Question

Is there a way to rename an open file in Emacs? While I\'m viewing it? Something like save-as, but the original one should go away.

Answer 1

Here's another version, that's pretty robust and VC aware:

(defun rename-file-and-buffer ()
  "Rename the current buffer and file it is visiting."
  (interactive)
  (let ((filename (buffer-file-name)))
    (if (not (and filename (file-exists-p filename)))
        (message "Buffer is not visiting a file!")
      (let ((new-name (read-file-name "New name: " filename)))
        (cond
         ((vc-backend filename) (vc-rename-file filename new-name))
         (t
          (rename-file filename new-name t)
          (set-visited-file-name new-name t t)))))))

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