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man page(1) manual page Table of Contents

Name

mv - move (rename) files

Synopsis

mv [OPTION]... [-T] SOURCE DEST
mv [OPTION]... SOURCE... DIRECTORY
mv [OPTION]... -t DIRECTORY SOURCE...

Description

Rename SOURCE to DEST, or move SOURCE(s) to DIRECTORY.

Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.

--backup[=CONTROL]
make a backup of each existing destination file

-b
like --backup but does not accept an argument

-f, --force
do not prompt before overwriting

-i, --interactive
prompt before overwrite

--strip-trailing-slashes
remove any trailing slashes from each SOURCE argument

-S, --suffix=SUFFIX
override the usual backup suffix

-t, --target-directory=DIRECTORY
move all SOURCE arguments into DIRECTORY

-T, --no-target-directory
treat DEST as a normal file

-u, --update
move only when the SOURCE file is newer than the destination file or when the destination file is missing

-v, --verbose
explain what is being done

--help display this help and exit

--version
output version information and exit

The backup suffix is ‘~’, unless set with --suffix or SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX. The version control method may be selected via the --backup option or through the VERSION_CONTROL environment variable. Here are the values:

none, off
never make backups (even if --backup is given)

numbered, t
make numbered backups

existing, nil
numbered if numbered backups exist, simple otherwise

simple, never
always make simple backups

Author

Written by Mike Parker, David MacKenzie, and Jim Meyering.

Reporting Bugs

Report bugs to <bug-coreutils@gnu.org>.

Copyright

Copyright © 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc. This is free software. You may redistribute copies of it under the terms of the GNU General Public License <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

See Also

rename(2)

The full documentation for mv is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the info and mv programs are properly installed at your site, the command

info mv

should give you access to the complete manual.

Table of Contents
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