1.\"- 2.\" Copyright (c) 1989, 1990, 1993 3.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. 4.\" 5.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by 6.\" the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. 7.\" 8.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 9.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 10.\" are met: 11.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright 12.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 13.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright 14.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 15.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 16.\" 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors 17.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software 18.\" without specific prior written permission. 19.\" 20.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND 21.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 22.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 23.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE 24.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 25.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 26.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 27.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 28.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 29.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 30.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 31.\" 32.Dd March 15, 2013 33.Dt MV 1 34.Os 35.Sh NAME 36.Nm mv 37.Nd move files 38.Sh SYNOPSIS 39.Nm 40.Op Fl f | i | n 41.Op Fl hv 42.Ar source target 43.Nm 44.Op Fl f | i | n 45.Op Fl v 46.Ar source ... directory 47.Sh DESCRIPTION 48In its first form, the 49.Nm 50utility renames the file named by the 51.Ar source 52operand to the destination path named by the 53.Ar target 54operand. 55This form is assumed when the last operand does not name an already 56existing directory. 57.Pp 58In its second form, 59.Nm 60moves each file named by a 61.Ar source 62operand to a destination file in the existing directory named by the 63.Ar directory 64operand. 65The destination path for each operand is the pathname produced by the 66concatenation of the last operand, a slash, and the final pathname 67component of the named file. 68.Pp 69The following options are available: 70.Bl -tag -width indent 71.It Fl f 72Do not prompt for confirmation before overwriting the destination 73path. 74(The 75.Fl f 76option overrides any previous 77.Fl i 78or 79.Fl n 80options.) 81.It Fl h 82If the 83.Ar target 84operand is a symbolic link to a directory, 85do not follow it. 86This causes the 87.Nm 88utility to rename the file 89.Ar source 90to the destination path 91.Ar target 92rather than moving 93.Ar source 94into the directory referenced by 95.Ar target . 96.It Fl i 97Cause 98.Nm 99to write a prompt to standard error before moving a file that would 100overwrite an existing file. 101If the response from the standard input begins with the character 102.Ql y 103or 104.Ql Y , 105the move is attempted. 106(The 107.Fl i 108option overrides any previous 109.Fl f 110or 111.Fl n 112options.) 113.It Fl n 114Do not overwrite an existing file. 115(The 116.Fl n 117option overrides any previous 118.Fl f 119or 120.Fl i 121options.) 122.It Fl v 123Cause 124.Nm 125to be verbose, showing files after they are moved. 126.El 127.Pp 128It is an error for the 129.Ar source 130operand to specify a directory if the target exists and is not a directory. 131.Pp 132If the destination path does not have a mode which permits writing, 133.Nm 134prompts the user for confirmation as specified for the 135.Fl i 136option. 137.Pp 138As the 139.Xr rename 2 140call does not work across file systems, 141.Nm 142uses 143.Xr cp 1 144and 145.Xr rm 1 146to accomplish the move. 147The effect is equivalent to: 148.Bd -literal -offset indent 149rm -f destination_path && \e 150cp -pRP source_file destination && \e 151rm -rf source_file 152.Ed 153.Sh EXIT STATUS 154.Ex -std 155.Sh EXAMPLES 156Rename file 157.Pa foo 158to 159.Pa bar , 160overwriting 161.Pa bar 162if it already exists: 163.Pp 164.Dl $ mv -f foo bar 165.Sh COMPATIBILITY 166The 167.Fl h , 168.Fl n , 169and 170.Fl v 171options are non-standard and their use in scripts is not recommended. 172.Sh SEE ALSO 173.Xr cp 1 , 174.Xr rm 1 , 175.Xr symlink 7 176.Sh STANDARDS 177The 178.Nm 179utility is expected to be 180.St -p1003.2 181compatible. 182.Sh HISTORY 183A 184.Nm 185command appeared in 186.At v1 . 187