xref: /freebsd/bin/mv/mv.1 (revision 63f9a4cb2684a303e3eb2ffed39c03a2e2b28ae0)
1.\" Copyright (c) 1989, 1990, 1993
2.\"	The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.
3.\"
4.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
5.\" the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
6.\"
7.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
8.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
9.\" are met:
10.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
11.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
12.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
13.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
14.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
15.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
16.\"    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
17.\"    without specific prior written permission.
18.\"
19.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
20.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
21.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
22.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
23.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
24.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
25.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
26.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
27.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
28.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
29.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
30.\"
31.\"	@(#)mv.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 5/31/93
32.\" $FreeBSD$
33.\"
34.Dd July 9, 2002
35.Dt MV 1
36.Os
37.Sh NAME
38.Nm mv
39.Nd move files
40.Sh SYNOPSIS
41.Nm
42.Op Fl f | i | n
43.Op Fl v
44.Ar source target
45.Nm
46.Op Fl f | i | n
47.Op Fl v
48.Ar source ... directory
49.Sh DESCRIPTION
50In its first form, the
51.Nm
52utility renames the file named by the
53.Ar source
54operand to the destination path named by the
55.Ar target
56operand.
57This form is assumed when the last operand does not name an already
58existing directory.
59.Pp
60In its second form,
61.Nm
62moves each file named by a
63.Ar source
64operand to a destination file in the existing directory named by the
65.Ar directory
66operand.
67The destination path for each operand is the pathname produced by the
68concatenation of the last operand, a slash, and the final pathname
69component of the named file.
70.Pp
71The following options are available:
72.Bl -tag -width indent
73.It Fl f
74Do not prompt for confirmation before overwriting the destination
75path.
76(The
77.Fl f
78option overrides any previous
79.Fl i
80or
81.Fl n
82options.)
83.It Fl i
84Cause
85.Nm
86to write a prompt to standard error before moving a file that would
87overwrite an existing file.
88If the response from the standard input begins with the character
89.Ql y
90or
91.Ql Y ,
92the move is attempted.
93(The
94.Fl i
95option overrides any previous
96.Fl f
97or
98.Fl n
99options.)
100.It Fl n
101Do not overwrite an existing file.
102(The
103.Fl n
104option overrides any previous
105.Fl f
106or
107.Fl i
108options.)
109.It Fl v
110Cause
111.Nm
112to be verbose, showing files after they are moved.
113.El
114.Pp
115It is an error for either the
116.Ar source
117operand or the destination path to specify a directory unless both do.
118.Pp
119If the destination path does not have a mode which permits writing,
120.Nm
121prompts the user for confirmation as specified for the
122.Fl i
123option.
124.Pp
125As the
126.Xr rename 2
127call does not work across file systems,
128.Nm
129uses
130.Xr cp 1
131and
132.Xr rm 1
133to accomplish the move.
134The effect is equivalent to:
135.Bd -literal -offset indent
136rm -f destination_path && \e
137cp -pRP source_file destination && \e
138rm -rf source_file
139.Ed
140.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
141.Ex -std
142.Sh SEE ALSO
143.Xr cp 1 ,
144.Xr rm 1 ,
145.Xr symlink 7
146.Sh COMPATIBILITY
147The
148.Fl n
149and
150.Fl v
151options are non-standard and their use in scripts is not recommended.
152.Sh STANDARDS
153The
154.Nm
155utility is expected to be
156.St -p1003.2
157compatible.
158.Sh HISTORY
159A
160.Nm
161command appeared in
162.At v1 .
163