MV(1) BSD General Commands Manual MV(1)NAME
mv -- move files
SYNOPSIS
mv [-fiv] source target
mv [-fiv] source ... directory
DESCRIPTION
In its first form, the mv utility renames the file named by the source operand to the destination path named by the target operand. This
form is assumed when the last operand does not name an already existing directory.
In its second form, mv moves each file named by a source operand to a destination file in the existing directory named by the directory oper-
and. The destination path for each operand is the pathname produced by the concatenation of the last operand, a slash, and the final path-
name component of the named file.
The following options are available:
-f Do not prompt for confirmation before overwriting the destination path.
-i Causes mv to write a prompt to standard error before moving a file that would overwrite an existing file. If the response from the
standard input begins with the character ``y'', the move is attempted.
-v Cause mv to be verbose, showing files as they are processed.
The last of any -f or -i options is the one which affects mv's behavior.
It is an error for any of the source operands to specify a nonexistent file or directory.
It is an error for the source operand to specify a directory if the target exists and is not a directory.
If the destination path does not have a mode which permits writing, mv prompts the user for confirmation as specified for the -i option.
Should the rename(2) call fail because source and target are on different file systems, mv will remove the destination file, copy the source
file to the destination, and then remove the source. The effect is roughly equivalent to:
rm -f destination_path &&
cp -PRp source_file destination_path &&
rm -rf source_file
EXIT STATUS
The mv utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.
SEE ALSO cp(1), rename(2), symlink(7)STANDARDS
The mv utility is expected to be IEEE Std 1003.2 (``POSIX.2'') compatible.
The -v option is an extension to IEEE Std 1003.2 (``POSIX.2'').
BSD December 26, 2002 BSD
Check Out this Related Man Page
mv(1) User Commands mv(1)NAME
mv - move files
SYNOPSIS
/usr/bin/mv [-fi] source target_file
/usr/bin/mv [-fi] source... target_dir
/usr/xpg4/bin/mv [-fi] source target_file
/usr/xpg4/bin/mv [-fi] source... target_dir
DESCRIPTION
In the first synopsis form, the mv utility moves the file named by the source operand to the destination specified by the target_file.
source and target_file may not have the same name. If target_file does not exist, mv creates a file named target_file. If target_file
exists, its contents are overwritten. This first synopsis form is assumed when the final operand does not name an existing directory.
In the second synopsis form, mv moves each file named by a source operand to a destination file in the existing directory named by the tar-
get_dir operand. The destination path for each source is the concatenation of the target directory, a single slash character (/), and the
last path name component of the source. This second form is assumed when the final operand names an existing directory.
If mv determines that the mode of target_file forbids writing, it will print the mode (see chmod(2)), ask for a response, and read the
standard input for one line. If the response is affirmative, the mv occurs, if permissible; otherwise, the command exits. Notice that the
mode displayed may not fully represent the access permission if target is associated with an ACL. When the parent directory of source is
writable and has the sticky bit set, one or more of the following conditions must be true:
o the user must own the file
o the user must own the directory
o the file must be writable by the user
o the user must be a privileged user
If source is a file and target_file is a link to another file with links, the other links remain and target_file becomes a new file.
If source and target_file/target_dir are on different file systems, mv copies the source and deletes the original. Any hard links to other
files are lost. mv will attempt to duplicate the source file characteristics to the target, that is, the owner and group id, permission
modes, modification and access times, ACLs, and extended attributes, if applicable. For symbolic links, mv will preserve only the owner
and group of the link itself.
If unable to preserve owner and group id, mv will clear S_ISUID and S_ISGID bits in the target. mv will print a diagnostic message to
stderr if unable to clear these bits, though the exit code will not be affected. mv may be unable to preserve extended attributes if the
target file system does not have extended attribute support. /usr/xpg4/bin/mv will print a diagnostic message to stderr for all other
failed attempts to duplicate file characteristics. The exit code will not be affected.
In order to preserve the source file characteristics, users must have the appropriate file access permissions. This includes being super-
user or having the same owner id as the destination file.
OPTIONS
The following options are supported:
-f mv will move the file(s) without prompting even if it is writing over an existing target. Note that this is the default if the
standard input is not a terminal.
-i mv will prompt for confirmation whenever the move would overwrite an existing target. An affirmative answer means that the move
should proceed. Any other answer prevents mv from overwriting the target.
/usr/bin/mv
Specifying both the -f and the -i options is not considered an error. The -f option will override the -i option.
/usr/xpg4/bin/mv
Specifying both the -f and the -i options is not considered an error. The last option specified will determine the behavior of mv.
OPERANDS
The following operands are supported:
source A path name of a file or directory to be moved.
target_file A new path name for the file or directory being moved.
target_dir A path name of an existing directory into which to move the input files.
USAGE
See largefile(5) for the description of the behavior of mv when encountering files greater than or equal to 2 Gbyte ( 2**31 bytes).
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment variables that affect the execution of mv: LANG, LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, LC_MES-
SAGES, and NLSPATH.
EXIT STATUS
The following exit values are returned:
0 All input files were moved successfully.
>0 An error occurred.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
/usr/bin/mv
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
|Availability |SUNWcsu |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
|CSI |Enabled |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
|Interface Stability |Stable |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
/usr/xpg4/bin/mv
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
|Availability |SUNWxcu4 |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
|CSI |Enabled |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
|Interface Stability |Standard |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
SEE ALSO cp(1), cpio(1), ln(1), rm(1), setfacl(1), chmod(2), attributes(5), environ(5), fsattr(5), largefile(5), standards(5)NOTES
A -- permits the user to mark explicitly the end of any command line options, allowing mv to recognize filename arguments that begin with a
-. As an aid to BSD migration, mv will accept - as a synonym for --. This migration aid may disappear in a future release.
SunOS 5.10 7 Jun 2001 mv(1)