Content-type: text/html; charset=UTF-8 Man page of MV

MV

Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: June 2025
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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
--debug
explain how a file is copied. Implies -v
--exchange
exchange source and destination
-f, --force
do not prompt before overwriting
-i, --interactive
prompt before overwrite
-n, --no-clobber
do not overwrite an existing file

If you specify more than one of -i, -f, -n, only the final one takes effect.

--no-copy
do not copy if renaming fails
--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
--update[=,UPDATE/]
control which existing files are updated; UPDATE={all,none,none-fail,older(default)}
-u
equivalent to --update[=,older/]. See below
-v, --verbose
explain what is being done
-Z, --context
set SELinux security context of destination file to default type
--help
display this help and exit
--version
output version information and exit

UPDATE controls which existing files in the destination are replaced. 'all' is the default operation when an --update option is not specified, and results in all existing files in the destination being replaced. 'none' is like the --no-clobber option, in that no files in the destination are replaced, and skipped files do not induce a failure. 'none-fail' also ensures no files are replaced in the destination, but any skipped files are diagnosed and induce a failure. 'older' is the default operation when --update is specified, and results in files being replaced if they're older than the corresponding source file.

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

GNU coreutils online help: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>  

SEE ALSO

rename(2)


Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/mv>
or available locally via: info '(coreutils) mv invocation'


Packaged by Debian (9.7-3)
Copyright © 2025 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

 

Index

NAME
SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
AUTHOR
REPORTING BUGS
SEE ALSO
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Time: 11:48:44 GMT, September 14, 2026