MV(1)                   FreeBSD General Commands Manual                  MV(1)

NAME
     mv - move files

SYNOPSIS
     mv [-f | -i | -n] [-hv] source target
     mv [-f | -i | -n] [-v] source ... directory

DESCRIPTION
     In its first form, the mv utility renames the file named by the source
     operand to the destination path named by the target operand.  This form
     is assumed when the last operand does not name an already existing
     directory.

     In its second form, mv moves each file named by a source operand to a
     destination file in the existing directory named by the directory
     operand.  The destination path for each operand is the pathname produced
     by the concatenation of the last operand, a slash, and the final pathname
     component of the named file.

     The following options are available:

     -f      Do not prompt for confirmation before overwriting the destination
             path.  (The -f option overrides any previous -i or -n options.)

     -h      If the target operand is a symbolic link to a directory, do not
             follow it.  This causes the mv utility to rename the file source
             to the destination path target rather than moving source into the
             directory referenced by target.

     -i      Cause mv 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 `y' or `Y', the move is
             attempted.  (The -i option overrides any previous -f or -n
             options.)

     -n      Do not overwrite an existing file.  (The -n option overrides any
             previous -f or -i options.)

     -v      Cause mv to be verbose, showing files after they are moved.

     It is an error for the source operand to specify a directory if the
     target exists and is not a directory.

     If the destination path does not have a mode which permits writing, mv
     prompts the user for confirmation as specified for the -i option.

     As the rename(2) call does not work across file systems, mv uses cp(1)
     and rm(1) to accomplish the move.  The effect is equivalent to:

           rm -f destination_path && \
           cp -pRP source_file destination && \
           rm -rf source_file

EXIT STATUS
     The mv utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.

EXAMPLES
     Rename file foo to bar, overwriting bar if it already exists:

           $ mv -f foo bar

COMPATIBILITY
     The -h, -n, and -v options are non-standard and their use in scripts is
     not recommended.

SEE ALSO
     cp(1), rm(1), symlink(7)

STANDARDS
     The mv utility is expected to be IEEE Std 1003.2 ("POSIX.2") compatible.

HISTORY
     A mv command appeared in Version 1 AT&T UNIX.

FreeBSD 13.1-RELEASE-p6         March 15, 2013         FreeBSD 13.1-RELEASE-p6