MoveFile function convert syntax / how to use MoveFile with variables to rename folders

This part of my programm tries to rename all folders and subfolders. All other functionality is in another code, here I’m just renaming a single folder by providing a path.

Since rename doesnt seem to work for me I tried using MoveFile.

I understand that it requires an LPCTSTR value.. but the paths I am currently providing (casted from std::filesystem::directory_entry -> std::filesystem::path) -> LPCTSTR) aren’t accepted.

I’m getting that I’m not casting it the right way and I probably have to provide it with an "L" in front of the variable, but I can’t find nor figure out the syntax.

Thanks in advance! And please don’t down vote bomb me instantly just because I might not have 30 years experience.

bool renameFolder(std::string confirmStr3, auto dirEntry, std::string& replacedStr, std::string& insertStr, int& foldername_replacements)
{
    std::string path_string = dirEntry.path().string();

    path_string = std::filesystem::path(path_string).filename().string();

    replace_all(path_string, replacedStr, insertStr);

    path_string = getFolderPath(std::filesystem::path(dirEntry).string()) + "\\" + path_string;
 

    if (std::filesystem::path(dirEntry) != std::filesystem::path(path_string))
        foldername_replacements++;


    //std::filesystem::rename(std::filesystem::path(dirEntry), std::filesystem::path(path_string));
    MoveFile(LPCTSTR(std::filesystem::path(dirEntry)), LPCTSTR(std::filesystem::path(path_string)));

}

>Solution :

You can’t type cast a std::filesystem::path object directly to a character pointer. That is exactly what the error message is telling you.
And you can’t use the L prefix with variables, only with compile-time literals.

You need to call the path::c_str() method instead, or the path::(w)string() method and then c_str() on the returned std::(w)string object.

That being said, ,std::rename() is likely to be implemented on Windows using MoveFile/Ex() internally, so this is a possible XY Problem. std::rename() is the preferred solution, so you should focus your efforts on figuring out why it is not working for you.