View source for Rename command

The '''RENAME''' command changes the name of the current ship. A ship name is separate from the commander's user ID and from the ship class.

== Syntax ==
<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
RENAME new ship name
</syntaxhighlight>

The complete remainder of the command line is used as the name, including spaces. Ship names may contain no more than 19 characters; longer input is truncated to that limit. Names do not have to be unique, so the user ID remains the reliable way to identify a commander.

The new name is used in scans and in many movement, combat, sensor, and destruction messages visible to the owner or other nearby ships. Renaming does not alter the ship's class, ownership, statistics, or persistent ship number. Normal cloaking and sensor-visibility rules still determine whether another player can see the ship at all.

== Removing a name ==
ge-next permits a ship to have no name. Entering <code>RENAME</code> without an argument clears the current name:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text">
RENAME
</syntaxhighlight>

Messages that would ordinarily use the ship name then identify it as the commander's ship, such as “username's ship.” This unnamed-ship presentation was introduced in ge-next 0.3.

Classic GE initializes a ship without a chosen name by putting the literal text <code>&lt;NO NAME&gt;</code>, padded with spaces, in its ship-name field. Because this is stored as an ordinary nonempty name, scans and messages can display “&lt;NO NAME&gt;” where an actual name would appear. Classic requires an argument after <code>RENAME</code>; entering the command by itself displays the help reminder and leaves the existing name unchanged, so it provides no supported way to return a named ship to a truly empty name.

== ge-arena ==
<code>RENAME</code> can be used while actively flying an arena ship, but arena ships are temporary. A respawn constructs a fresh ship, so a chosen name does not persist across destruction or into a later match. It is not accepted in the arena lobby or while waiting to respawn.

== See also ==

* [[MBMGEHLP.MSG#HELP_RENAME|Classic HELP RENAME]]
* [[Scan command]]
* [[Cloak command]]
* [[Report command]]

{{GE navigation}}
[[Category:Commands]]
[[Category:Ships]]