Renaming a file during download on Apache

[unspoken]

Please imagine this: I am starting to download a file on my web server "/download1/testfile.zip" (its size is about 150 mb). While I am downloading it (directly from apache server), I am renaming the file path "/download1/testfile.zip" to "/download2/testfile.zip" with php and the download is not getting interrupted.

1) Why can I rename it while I am downloading it. Is not that is file which is in use?
2) If I can rename it, why the download is not getting interrupted?

I am using Linux CentOS, Apache 2.2.11, PHP 5.2.5

[g1smd]

In Windows (and probably true for other OS such as yours), the file is actually downloaded to a hidden temporary location with a random filename and then only when the download is complete is it copied over to the location you specified and given the name that you wanted.

[jdMorgan]

Because the entire file likely got sucked into a temporary buffer for transmission, before your rename was invoked. Or perhaps it's being cached by the server or the OS, and the "file read" operation is being permitted to complete despite the rename.

Jim