mv(1)
NAME
mv - move files
SYNOPSIS
/usr/bin/mv [-fi] source target_file
/usr/bin/mv [-fi] source... target_dir
/usr/xpg4/bin/mv [-fi] source target_file
/usr/xpg4/bin/mv [-fi] source... target_dir
DESCRIPTION
In the first synopsis form, the mv utility moves the file
named by the source operand to the destination specified by
the target_file. source and target_file may not have the
same name. If target_file does not exist, mv creates a file
named target_file. If target_file exists, its contents are
overwritten. This first synopsis form is assumed when the
final operand does not name an existing directory.
In the second synopsis form, mv moves each file named by a
source operand to a destination file in the existing direc-
tory named by the target_dir operand. The destination path
for each source is the concatenation of the target direc-
tory, a single slash character (/), and the last path name
component of the source. This second form is assumed when
the final operand names an existing directory.
If mv determines that the mode of target_file forbids writ-
ing, it will print the mode (see chmod(2)), ask for a
response, and read the standard input for one line. If the
response is affirmative, the mv occurs, if permissible; oth-
erwise, the command exits. Notice that the mode displayed
may not fully represent the access permission if target is
associated with an ACL. When the parent directory of source
is writable and has the sticky bit set, one or more of the
following conditions must be true:
o the user must own the file
o the user must own the directory
o the file must be writable by the user
o the user must be a privileged user
If source is a file and target_file is a link to another
file with links, the other links remain and target_file
becomes a new file.
If source and target_file/target_dir are on different file
systems, mv copies the source and deletes the original. Any
hard links to other files are lost. mv will attempt to
duplicate the source file characteristics to the target,
that is, the owner and group id, permission modes, modifica-
tion and access times, ACLs, and extended attributes, if
applicable. For symbolic links, mv will preserve only the
owner and group of the link itself.
If unable to preserve owner and group id, mv will clear
S_ISUID and S_ISGID bits in the target. mv will print a
diagnostic message to stderr if unable to clear these bits,
though the exit code will not be affected. mv may be unable
to preserve extended attributes if the target file system
does not have extended attribute support. /usr/xpg4/bin/mv
will print a diagnostic message to stderr for all other
failed attempts to duplicate file characteristics. The exit
code will not be affected.
In order to preserve the source file characteristics, users
must have the appropriate file access permissions. This
includes being super-user or having the same owner id as the
destination file.
OPTIONS
The following options are supported:
-f mv will move the file(s) without prompting even if it
is writing over an existing target. Note that this is
the default if the standard input is not a terminal.
-i mv will prompt for confirmation whenever the move
would overwrite an existing target. An affirmative
answer means that the move should proceed. Any other
answer prevents mv from overwriting the target.
/usr/bin/mv
Specifying both the -f and the -i options is not considered
an error. The -f option will override the -i option.
/usr/xpg4/bin/mv
Specifying both the -f and the -i options is not considered
an error. The last option specified will determine the
behavior of mv.
OPERANDS
The following operands are supported:
source
A path name of a file or directory to be moved.
target_file
A new path name for the file or directory being moved.
target_dir
A path name of an existing directory into which to
move the input files.
USAGE
See largefile(5) for the description of the behavior of mv
when encountering files greater than or equal to 2 Gbyte ( 2
**31 bytes).
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment
variables that affect the execution of mv: LANG, LC_ALL,
LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES, and NLSPATH.
EXIT STATUS
The following exit values are returned:
0 All input files were moved successfully.
>0 An error occurred.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attri-
butes:
/usr/bin/mv
____________________________________________________________
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Availability | SUNWcsu |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| CSI | Enabled |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Interface Stability | Stable |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
/usr/xpg4/bin/mv
____________________________________________________________
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Availability | SUNWxcu4 |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| CSI | Enabled |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Interface Stability | Standard |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
SEE ALSO
cp(1), cpio(1), ln(1), rm(1), setfacl(1), chmod(2), attri-
butes(5), environ(5), fsattr(5), largefile(5), standards(5)
NOTES
A -- permits the user to mark explicitly the end of any com-
mand line options, allowing mv to recognize filename argu-
ments that begin with a -. As an aid to BSD migration, mv
will accept - as a synonym for --. This migration aid may
disappear in a future release.
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