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
- -f, –force
- do not prompt before overwriting
- -i, –interactive
- prompt before overwrite
- –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
- -u, –update
- move only when the SOURCE file is newer than the destination file or when the destination file is missing
- -v, –verbose
- explain what is being done
- –help
- display this help and exit
- –version
- output version information and exit
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