OpenBSD-4.6/bin/mv/mv.1

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.\"	@(#)mv.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 5/31/93
.\"
.Dd $Mdocdate: February 8 2009 $
.Dt MV 1
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm mv
.Nd move files
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm mv
.Op Fl fi
.Ar source target
.Nm mv
.Op Fl fi
.Ar source ... directory
.Sh DESCRIPTION
In its first form, the
.Nm
utility moves the file named by the
.Ar source
operand to the destination path named by the
.Ar target
operand.
This form is assumed when the last operand does not name an already
existing directory.
.Pp
In its second form,
.Nm
moves each file named by a
.Ar source
operand to a destination specified by the
.Ar directory
operand.
It is an error if the
.Ar directory
operand does not exist.
The destination path for each
.Ar source
operand is the pathname produced by the concatenation of the
.Ar directory
operand, a slash, and the final pathname component of the named file.
.Pp
The options are as follows:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Fl f
Do not prompt for confirmation before overwriting the destination
path.
.It Fl i
Causes
.Nm
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
.Dq y ,
the move is attempted.
.El
.Pp
The last of any
.Fl f
or
.Fl i
options is the one which affects
.Nm mv Ns 's
behavior.
.Pp
The
.Nm
utility moves symbolic links, not the files referenced by the links.
.Pp
If the destination path does not have a mode which permits writing,
.Nm
prompts the user for confirmation as specified for the
.Fl i
option.
.Pp
Should the
.Xr rename 2
call fail because the source and destination are on different file systems,
.Nm
will use
.Xr cp 1
and
.Xr rm 1
to accomplish the move.
The effect is equivalent to:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
$ rm -f destination_path && \e
    cp -PRp source_file destination && \e
    rm -rf source_file
.Ed
.Pp
.Ex -std mv
.Sh EXAMPLES
Rename file
.Pa foo
to
.Pa bar ,
overwriting
.Pa bar
if it already exists:
.Pp
.Dl $ mv -f foo bar
.Pp
Either of these commands will rename the file
.Pa -f
to
.Pa bar ,
prompting for confirmation if
.Pa bar
already exists:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
$ mv -i -- -f bar
$ mv -i ./-f bar
.Ed
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr cp 1 ,
.Xr rm 1 ,
.Xr rename 2 ,
.Xr symlink 7
.Sh STANDARDS
The
.Nm
utility is compliant with the
.St -p1003.1-2008
specification.
.Sh HISTORY
A
.Nm
command appeared in
.At v1 .
.Sh CAVEATS
In the second synopsis form
if the destination path exists,
the
.Ar source
operand and the destination path
must both be a file or must both be a directory
for the operation to succeed.
For example, if
.Pa f
is a file and
.Pa d
and
.Pa d/f
are directories, the following command will fail:
.Pp
.Dl $ mv f d