The mv command is used to move a file or directory from one location to another location. You can also move multiple files.
The following example shows a listing of a directory, the move of file krsort.c to krsort.test.c within this directory, and a listing of the directory showing that the file has been moved:
$ ls -l total 168 -rwxr-xr-x 1 denise users 34592 Oct 31 15:17 krsort -rwxr-xr-x 1 denise users 3234 Oct 31 15:17 krsort.c -rwxr-xr-x 1 denise users 2756 Oct 31 15:17 krsort.dos -rw-r--r-- 1 denise users 9922 Oct 31 15:17 krsort.q -rwxr-xr-x 1 denise users 3085 Oct 31 15:17 krsortorig.c $ mv krsort.c krsort.test.c $ ls -l total 168 -rwxr-xr-x 1 denise users 34592 Oct 31 15:17 krsort -rwxr-xr-x 1 denise users 32756 Oct 31 15:17 krsort.dos -rw-r--r-- 1 denise users 9922 Oct 31 15:17 krsort.q -rwxr-xr-x 1 denise users 3234 Oct 31 15:17 krsort.test.c -rwxr-xr-x 1 denise users 3085 Oct 31 15:17 krsortorig.c $
What if the destination file already exists? You guessed it, UNIX is more than happy to write over the destination file. Using the -i option, mv asks you to confirm overwriting a file before it does so. The following example shows an attempt to move krsort.test.c to krsortorig.c. The user is alerted to the fact that krsortorig.c already exists and chooses not to let the move take place:
$ ls -l total 168 -rwxr-xr-x 1 denise users 34592 Oct 31 15:17 krsort -rwxr-xr-x 1 denise users 32756 Oct 31 15:17 krsort.dos -rw-r--r-- 1 denise users 9922 Oct 31 15:17 krsort.q -rwxr-xr-x 1 denise users 3234 Oct 31 15:17 krsort.test.c -rwxr-xr-x 1 denise users 3085 Oct 31 15:17 krsortorig.c $ mv -i krsort.test.c krsortorig.c remove krsortorig.c? (y/n) n $ ls -l total 168 -rwxr-xr-x 1 denise users 34592 Oct 31 15:17 krsort -rwxr-xr-x 1 denise users 32756 Oct 31 15:17 krsort.dos -rw-r--r-- 1 denise users 9922 Oct 31 15:17 krsort.q -rwxr-xr-x 1 denise users 3234 Oct 31 15:17 krsort.test.c -rwxr-xr-x 1 denise users 3085 Oct 31 15:17 krsortorig.c $
Because the response was not in the affirmative, the move does not take place, and the original krsortorig.c remains intact.
mv - Move files and directories.
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