Moving and renaming files (mv command)

Edit online

Use the mv command to move files and directories from one directory to another or to rename a file or directory. If you move a file or directory to a new directory without specifying a new name, it retains its original name.

Attention: The mv command can overwrite many existing files unless you specify the -i flag. The -i flag prompts you to confirm before it overwrites a file. The -f flag does not prompt you. If both the -f and -i flags are specified in combination, the last flag specified takes precedence.

Moving files with mv command

The following are examples of how to use the mv command:

To move a file to another directory and give it a new name, type the following:
```
mv intro manual/chap1
```
This moves the intro file to the manual/chap1 directory. The name intro is removed from the current directory, and the same file appears as chap1 in the manual directory.
To move a file to another directory, keeping the same name, type the following:
```
mv chap3 manual
```
This moves chap3 to manual/chap3.

Renaming files with mv command

Use the mv command to change the name of a file without moving it to another directory.

To rename a file, type the following:

mv appendix apndx.a

This renames the appendix file to apndx.a. If a file named apndx.a already exists, its old contents are replaced with those of the appendix file.

See the mv command in the Commands Reference, Volume 3 for the complete syntax.