mv Command Examples

Move or rename files and directories. More information: https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/mv.

• Rename a file or directory when the target is not an existing directory:

mv {{path/to/source}} {{path/to/target}}

• Move a file or directory into an existing directory:

mv {{path/to/source}} {{path/to/existing_directory}}

• Move multiple files into an existing directory, keeping the filenames unchanged:

mv {{path/to/source1 path/to/source2 ...}} {{path/to/existing_directory}}

• Do not prompt ([f]) for confirmation before overwriting existing files:

mv --force {{path/to/source}} {{path/to/target}}

• Prompt for confirmation [i]nteractively before overwriting existing files, regardless of file permissions:

mv --interactive {{path/to/source}} {{path/to/target}}

• Do not overwrite ([n]) existing files at the target:

mv --no-clobber {{path/to/source}} {{path/to/target}}

• Move files in [v]erbose mode, showing files after they are moved:

mv --verbose {{path/to/source}} {{path/to/target}}

• Specify [t]arget directory so that you can use external tools to gather movable files:

{{find /var/log -type f -name '*.log' -print0}} | {{xargs -0}} mv --target-directory {{path/to/target_directory}}