mv(1)							      General Commands Manual							     mv(1)

NAME

       mv - Moves files and directories

SYNOPSIS

       mv [-i  | -f] [--] file1 file2

       mv [-i  | -f] [--] file1... directory

       mv [-i  | -f] [--] directory1... destination_directory

       The mv command moves files from one directory to another or renames files and directories.

STANDARDS

       Interfaces documented on this reference page conform to industry standards as follows:

       mv:  XCU5.0

       Refer to the standards(5) reference page for more information about industry standards and associated tags.

OPTIONS

       Overrides  the  -i  option  and	any  mode  restrictions.   (If both -f and -i are specified--for example, because an alias includes one of
       them--whichever appears last overrides the other.)  Prompts you with the name of the file followed by a question mark whenever a move is to
       supersede  an existing file.  If the answer begins with y, or the locale's equivalent of a y, the move continues.  Any other reply prevents
       the move from occurring. (If both -f and -i are specified--for example, because an alias includes one of them--whichever appears last over-
       rides the other.)  Interprets all following arguments to mv as file names.  This allows file names to start with a - (dash).

DESCRIPTION

       If you move a file to a new directory, mv retains the original file name.  When you move a file, all other links to the file remain intact.

       In  the	second	form, one or more files are moved to directory with their original file names.	In the third form, one or more directories
       are moved to the destination directory with their original names.

       The mv command does not move a file onto itself.

       When you use mv to rename a file, the target file can be either a new file name or a new directory path name.  If  moving  the  file  would
       overwrite  an existing file that does not have write permission set and if standard input is a terminal, mv displays the permission code of
       the file to be overwritten and reads one line from standard input.  If the line begins with y, or the locale's equivalent of a y, the  move
       takes place and the file is overwritten.  If not, mv does nothing with the file.

       When you use mv to move a directory into an existing directory, the directory and its contents are added under the existing directory.

       The LC_MESSAGES variable determines the locale's equivalent of y or n (for yes/no queries).

       If  a  mv  operation fails, mv generally writes a diagnostic message to standard error, does nothing more with the current source file, and
       goes on to process any remaining source files.

       If the copying or removal of a file is prematurely terminated by a signal or error, mv might leave a partial copy of the file at either the
       source or the target path name. The mv program does not modify the source and target path names simultaneously; therefore, program termina-
       tion at any point always leaves either the source file or the target file complete.

NOTES

       [Tru64 UNIX]  If the source is on a different file system than the destination, mv must copy the source to the  destination's  file  system
       and  then delete the source. The effect is equivalent to the following: rm -f destination && cp -pr source destination && rm -rf source The
       mv command might overwrite existing files. Specify the -i option last on the command line to cause the mv command to prompt you	before	it
       moves a file.

EXIT STATUS

       The following exit values are returned: All files were moved successfully.  An error occurred.

EXAMPLES

       To rename a file, enter: mv file1 file2

	      This  renames  file1  to file2.  If a file named file2 already exists, its old contents are replaced with those of file1.  To move a
	      directory, enter: mv dir1 dir2

	      This moves dir1 to dir2.	It moves dir1 and all files and directories under dir1 to the directory named dir2, if the  second  direc-
	      tory  exists.   Otherwise, the directory dir1 gets renamed dir2.	To move a file to another directory and give it a new name, enter:
	      mv file1 dir1/file2

	      This moves file1 to dir1/file2.  The name file1 is removed from the current directory, and the same file appears	as  file2  in  the
	      directory dir1.  To move a file to another directory, keeping the same name, enter: mv file1 dir1

	      This moves file1 to dir1/file1.  To move several files into another directory, enter: mv file1 dir1/file2 /u/dir2

	      This moves file1 to /u/dir2/file1 and dir1/file2 to /u/dir2/file2.  To use mv with pattern-matching characters, enter: mv  dir1/* .

	      This  moves  all	files in the directory dir1 into the current directory (.), giving them the same names they had in dir1. This also
	      empties dir1.  Note that you must type a space between the * (asterisk) and the (dot).

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       The following environment variables affect the execution of mv: Provides a default value for the internationalization  variables  that  are
       unset or null. If LANG is unset or null, the corresponding value from the default locale is used.  If any of the internationalization vari-
       ables contain an invalid setting, the utility behaves as if none of the variables had been defined.  If set to a  non-empty  string  value,
       overrides  the  values of all the other internationalization variables.	Determines the locale for the interpretation of sequences of bytes
       of text data as characters (for example, single-byte as opposed to multibyte characters in arguments).  Determines the locale for the  for-
       mat  and  contents  of  diagnostic messages written to standard error.  Determines the location of message catalogues for the processing of
       LC_MESSAGES.

SEE ALSO

       Commands:  cp(1), ln(1), rm(1)

       Functions:  rename(2)

       Standards:  standards(5)

																	     mv(1)