usr/share/man/cat1/mv.0

MV(1)                        BSD Reference Manual                        MV(1)

N\bNA\bAM\bME\bE
     m\bmv\bv - move files

S\bSY\bYN\bNO\bOP\bPS\bSI\bIS\bS
     m\bmv\bv [-\b-f\bf | -\b-i\bi] _\bs_\bo_\bu_\br_\bc_\be _\bt_\ba_\br_\bg_\be_\bt
     m\bmv\bv [-\b-f\bf | -\b-i\bi] _\bs_\bo_\bu_\br_\bc_\be _\b._\b._\b. _\bs_\bo_\bu_\br_\bc_\be _\bd_\bi_\br_\be_\bc_\bt_\bo_\br_\by

D\bDE\bES\bSC\bCR\bRI\bIP\bPT\bTI\bIO\bON\bN
     In its first form, the m\bmv\bv utility renames the file named by the _\bs_\bo_\bu_\br_\bc_\be
     operand to the destination path named by the _\bt_\ba_\br_\bg_\be_\bt operand.  This form
     is assumed when the last operand does not name an already existing direc-
     tory.

     In its second form, m\bmv\bv moves each file named by a _\bs_\bo_\bu_\br_\bc_\be operand to a
     destination file in the existing directory named by the _\bd_\bi_\br_\be_\bc_\bt_\bo_\br_\by
     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:

     -\b-f\bf    Do not prompt for confirmation before overwriting the destination
           path.  (The -\b-i\bi option is ignored if the -\b-f\bf option is specified.)

     -\b-i\bi    Causes m\bmv\bv 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'', the move is at-
           tempted.

     It is an error for either the _\bs_\bo_\bu_\br_\bc_\be operand or the destination path to
     specify a directory unless both do.

     If the destination path does not have a mode which permits writing, m\bmv\bv
     prompts the user for confirmation as specified for the -\b-i\bi option.

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

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

     The m\bmv\bv utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.

S\bSE\bEE\bE A\bAL\bLS\bSO\bO
     cp(1),  symlink(7)

S\bST\bTA\bAN\bND\bDA\bAR\bRD\bDS\bS
     The m\bmv\bv utility is expected to be IEEE Std1003.2 (``POSIX'') compatible.

4.4BSD                           May 31, 1993                                1