mv(1)mv(1)NAMEmv - move or rename files and directories
SYNOPSIS
extarg] file1 new-file
extarg] file1 [file2 ]... dest-directory
extarg] directory1 [directory2 ]... dest-directory
DESCRIPTION
The command moves:
· One file (file1) to a new or existing file (new-file).
· One or more files (file1, [file2, ...]) to an existing
directory (dest-directory).
· One or more directory subtrees (directory1, [direc‐
tory2, ...]) to a new or existing directory (dest-direc‐
tory).
Moving file1 to new-file is used to rename a file within a directory or
to relocate a file within a file system or across different file sys‐
tems. When the destination is a directory, one or more files are moved
into that directory. If two or more files are moved, the destination
must be a directory. When moving a single file to a new file, if new-
file exists, its contents are destroyed.
If the access permissions of the destination dest-directory or existing
destination file new-file forbid writing, asks permission to overwrite
the file. This is done by printing the mode (see chmod(2) and Access
Control Lists below), followed by the first letters of the words yes
and no in the language of the current locale, prompting for a response,
and reading one line from the standard input. If the response is
affirmative and the action is permissible, the operation occurs; if
not, the command proceeds to the next source file, if any.
If file1 is a file and new-file is a link to another file with other
links, the other links remain and new-file becomes a new file. If
file1 is a file with links or a link to a file, the existing file or
link remains intact, but the name is changed to new-file which may or
may not be in the directory where file1 resided, depending on directory
path names used in the command. The last access and modification times
of the file or files being moved remain unchanged.
Options
recognizes the following options:
Perform commands without prompting for permission. This
option is assumed when the standard input is not a
terminal.
Causes to write a prompt to standard output before moving
a file that would overwrite an existing file. If
the response from the standard input is affirma‐
tive, the file is moved if permissions allow the
move.
Specifies the handling of any extent attributes of the files(s)
to be moved.
extarg can be one of the following values:
Issue a warning message if extent attributes cannot
be preserved,
but move the file anyway.
Do not preserve extent attributes.
Do not move the file if the extent attributes can‐
not be preserved.
If multiple source files are specified
with a single target directory, will
move the files that either do not have
extent attributes or that have extent
attributes that can be preserved. will
not move the files if it cannot preserve
their extent attributes.
Extent attributes cannot be preserved if the files
are being moved to a file system that does not sup‐
port extent attributes or if that file system has a
different block size than the original. If is not
specified, the default value for extarg is
Access Control Lists (ACLs)
If optional ACL entries are associated with new-file, displays a plus
sign after the access mode when asking permission to overwrite the
file.
If new-file is a new file, it inherits the access control list of
file1, altered to reflect any difference in ownership between the two
files (see acl(5) and aclv(5)). In JFS file systems, new files created
by do not inherit their parent directory's default ACL entries (if
any), but instead retain their original ACLs. When moving files from a
JFS file system to an HFS file system or vice versa, optional ACL
entries are lost.
EXTERNAL INFLUENCES
Environment Variables
determines the interpretation of text as single byte and/or multibyte
characters.
and determine the local language equivalent of y (for yes/no queries).
determines the language in which messages are displayed.
If is not specified in the environment or is set to the empty string,
the value of is used as a default for each unspecified or empty vari‐
able. If is not specified or is set to the empty string, a default of
(see lang(5)) is used instead of If any internationalization variable
contains an invalid setting, behaves as if all internationalization
variables are set to See environ(5).
International Code Set Support
Single character and multibyte character code sets are supported.
EXAMPLES
Rename a file in the current directory:
Rename a directory in the current directory:
Rename a file in the current directory whose name starts with a non‐
printing control character or a character that is special to the shell,
such as and (extra care may be required depending on the situation):
Move directory and its contents to a new location in the file system
(upon completion, a subdirectory named resides in directory
Move all files and directories (including links) in the current direc‐
tory to a new location underneath
Move all files and directories (including links) in to a new location
underneath and are in separate directory paths):
WARNINGS
If file1 and new-file exist on different file systems, copies the file
and deletes the original. In this case the mover becomes the owner and
any linking relationship with other files is lost. cannot carry hard
links across file systems. If file1 is a directory, copies the entire
directory structure onto the destination file system and deletes the
original.
cannot be used to perform the following operations:
· Rename either the current working directory or its parent
directory using the or notation.
· Rename a directory to a new name identical to the name of a
file contained in the same parent directory.
DEPENDENCIES
NFS
Access control lists of networked files are summarized (as returned in
st_mode by stat(2)), but not copied to the new file. When using on
such files, a is not printed after the mode value when asking for per‐
mission to overwrite a file.
AUTHOR
was developed by AT&T, the University of California, Berkeley and HP.
SEE ALSOcp(1), cpio(1), ln(1), rm(1), link(1M), lstat(2), readlink(2), stat(2),
symlink(2), symlink(4), acl(5), aclv(5).
STANDARDS CONFORMANCEmv(1)