Enabling DECC$RENAME_ALLOW_DIR restores the prior OpenVMS behavior of the rename function by allowing conversion to a directory specification when the second argument is an ambiguous file specification passed as a logical name. The ambiguity is whether the logical name is a UNIX or OpenVMS file specification. Consider the following example with DECC$RENAME_ALLOW_DIR enabled: rename("file.ext", "logical_name") /*where logical_name = dev:[dir.subdir]*/ /* and :[dir.subdir] exists. */ This results in: dev:[dir.subdir]file.ext This example renames a file from one directory into another directory, which is the same behavior as in legacy versions of OpenVMS (versions before 7.3-1). Also in this example, if dev:[dir.subdir] does not exist, rename returns an error. Disabling DECC$RENAME_ALLOW_DIR provides a more UNIX compliant conversion of the "logical_name" argument of rename. Consider the following example with DECC$RENAME_ALLOW_DIR disabled: rename("file.ext", "logical_name") /* where logical_name = dev:[dir.subdir] */ This results in: dev:[dir]subdir.ext This example renames the file using the subdir part of the "logical_name" argument as the new filename because on UNIX systems, renaming a file to a directory is not allowed. So rename internally converts the "logical_name" to a filename, and dev:[dir]subdir is the most reasonable conversion it can perform. This new feature switch has a side effect of causing rename to a directory to take precedence over rename to a file. Consider this example: rename ( "file1.ext", "dir2" ) /* dir2 is not a logical */ With DECC$RENAME_ALLOW_DIR disabled, this example results in dir2.ext, regardless of whether or not subdirectory [.dir2] exists. With DECC$RENAME_ALLOW_DIR enabled, this example results in dir2.ext only if subdirectory [.dir2] does not exist. If subdirectory [.dir2] does exist, the result is [.dir2]file1.ext. NOTE If DECC$RENAME_NO_INHERIT is enabled, UNIX compliant behavior is expected, so DECC$RENAME_ALLOW_DIR is ignored, and renaming a file to a directory is not allowed.