mv command in Linux with examples

mv stands for move. mv is used to move one or more files or directories from one place to another in file system like UNIX. It has two distinct functions:

(i) It rename a file or folder.
(ii) It moves group of files to different directory.

No additional space is consumed on a disk during renaming. This command normally works silently means no prompt for confirmation.

Syntax:

mv [Option] source destination

Let us consider 5 files having name a.txt, b.txt and so on till e.txt.

To rename the file a.txt to geek.txt(not exist):

$ ls
a.txt  b.txt  c.txt  d.txt

$ mv a.txt geek.txt

$ ls
b.txt  c.txt  d.txt  geek.txt

If the destination file doesn’t exist, it will be created. In the above command mv simply replaces the source filename in the directory with the destination filename(new name). If the destination file exist, then it will be overwrite and the source file will be deleted. By default, mv doesn’t prompt for overwriting the existing file, So be careful !!

Let’s try to understand with example, moving geeks.txt to b.txt(exist):

$ ls
b.txt  c.txt  d.txt  geek.txt

$ cat geek.txt
India

$ cat b.txt
geeksforgeeks

$ mv geek.txt b.txt

$ ls
b.txt  c.txt  d.txt

$ cat b.txt
India

Options:

1. -i (Interactive): Like in cp, the -i option makes the command ask the user for confirmation before moving a file that would overwrite an existing file, you have to press y for confirm moving, any other key leaves the file as it is. This option doesn’t work if the file doesn’t exist, it simply rename it or move it to new location.

$ ls
b.txt  c.txt  d.txt  geek.txt

$ cat geek.txt
India

$ cat b.txt
geeksforgeeks

$ mv -i geek.txt b.txt
mv: overwrite 'b.txt'? y

$ ls
b.txt  c.txt  d.txt

$ cat b.txt
India

2. -f (Force): mv prompts for confirmation overwriting the destination file if a file is write protected. The -f option overrides this minor protection and overwrite the destination file forcefully and delete the source file.

$ ls
b.txt  c.txt  d.txt  geek.txt

$ cat b.txt
geeksforgeeks

$ ls -l b.txt
-r--r--r--+ 1 User User 13 Jan  9 13:37 b.txt

$ mv geek.txt b.txt
mv: replace 'b.txt', overriding mode 0444 (r--r--r--)? n

$ ls
b.txt  c.txt  d.txt  geek.txt

$ mv -f geek.txt b.txt

$ ls
b.txt  c.txt  d.txt

$ cat b.txt
India

3. -n (no-clobber): With -n option, mv prevent an existing file from being overwritten.
In the following example the effect is for nothing to happen as a file would be overwritten.

$ ls
b.txt  c.txt  d.txt  geek.txt

$ cat b.txt
geeksforgeeks

$ mv -n geek.txt b.txt

$ ls
b.txt  c.txt  d.txt  geek.txt

$ cat b.txt
geeksforgeeks

4. -b(backup): With this option it is easier to take a backup of an existing file that will be overwritten as a result of the mv command. This will create a backup file with the tilde character(~) appended to it.

$ ls
b.txt  c.txt  d.txt  geek.txt

$ mv -b geek.txt b.txt

$ ls
b.txt  b.txt~  c.txt  d.txt

5. –version: This option is used to display the version of mv which is currently running on your system.

$ mv --version
mv (GNU coreutils) 8.26
Packaged by Cygwin (8.26-2)
Copyright (C) 2016 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later .
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.