MV(1) BSD Reference Manual MV(1)NAMEmv - move files
SYNOPSISmv [-fi] source target
mv [-fi] 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 directo-
ry.
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
operand. The destination path for each operand is the pathname produced
by the concatenation of the last operand, a slash, and the final pathname
component of the named file.
The options are as follows:
-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 at-
tempted.
The last of any -f or -i options is the one which affects mv's behavior.
It is an error for either the source operand or the destination path to
specify a directory unless both do.
If the destination path does not have a mode which permits writing, mv
prompts the user for confirmation as specified for the -i option.
As the rename(2) call does not work across file systems, mv uses cp(1)
and rm(1) to accomplish the move. The effect is equivalent to:
$ rm -f destination_path && \
cp -PRp source_file destination && \
rm -rf source_file
The mv utility exits 0 on success or >0 if an error occurred.
EXAMPLES
$ mv-f foo bar
Rename file foo to bar, overwriting bar if it already exists.
$ mv-i -- -f bar
$ mv-i ./-f bar
Either of these commands will rename the file -f to bar, prompting for
confirmation if bar already exists.
SEE ALSOcp(1), symlink(7)STANDARDS
The mv utility is expected to be IEEE Std 1003.2 ("POSIX.2") compatible.
HISTORY
A mv command appeared in Version 1 AT&T UNIX.
MirOS BSD #10-current May 31, 1993 1
