Files and directories

`mv`

Move or rename files and directories.

mv [OPTION...] SOURCE... DEST

12 of 12 examples run in Debian 13.7 on 2026-10-31 · coreutils 9.7-3 · manual: mv(1)

mv does two jobs with one mechanism. Within one filesystem, moving is just renaming: the directory entry changes, the data stays where it is, so even a huge directory moves instantly and keeps its timestamps, owner and inode. Across filesystems, mv has to copy everything and then delete the original, which takes time and can fail halfway.

mv old new renames. mv file... dir/ moves files into an existing directory. Directories need no -r. Like cp, mv overwrites an existing destination without asking unless you add -i (ask) or -n (never overwrite).

Renaming many files by a pattern is not something mv does itself; use a shell loop with parameter expansion, shown below.

Examples

Rename a file

$ mv todo.txt tasks.txt
> ls *.txt

output

file with spaces.txt
notes.txt
tasks.txt

todo.txt no longer exists; the same file is now called tasks.txt.

Move files into a directory

$ mkdir archive
> mv logs/app.log.1 logs/error.log archive/
> ls archive logs

output

archive:
app.log.1
error.log

logs:
app.log

With a directory as the last argument, every source moves into it and keeps its name.

Rename a directory

$ mv photos images
> ls -d images photos

outputexit 2

ls: cannot access 'photos': No such file or directory
images

Directories move like files, no -r needed. The ls confirms photos is gone and images exists.

A rename keeps the same file

$ ls -i notes.txt
> mv notes.txt meeting.txt
> ls -i meeting.txt

output

9825349 notes.txt
9825349 meeting.txt

The inode number is unchanged: on the same filesystem, mv only rewrites the directory entry. That is also why a process that has the file open keeps writing to it after a rename.

mv overwrites silently

$ mv todo.txt notes.txt
> cat notes.txt

output

buy milk
fix login bug
write tests
fix logout bug
deploy v2.4

notes.txt already existed and has been replaced by the contents of todo.txt, with no warning. The old notes are gone.

Refuse to overwrite with -n

$ mv -n todo.txt notes.txt
> ls todo.txt notes.txt

output

notes.txt
todo.txt

-n leaves both files alone because notes.txt exists.

Ask before overwriting

$ mv -i todo.txt notes.txt
> head -1 notes.txt

output

mv: overwrite 'notes.txt'? Meeting notes, March

-i prompts when the target exists; the answer n (from standard input here) keeps the original notes.txt.

See each move

$ mv -v data/*.csv .

explain

output

renamed 'data/sales.csv' -> './sales.csv'
renamed 'data/users.csv' -> './users.csv'

-v prints 'from' -> 'to' for each file, a useful record when a glob is involved.

Rename many files by pattern

Setup run before this example

touch report-1.txt report-2.txt report-3.txt

$ for f in report-*.txt; do
>   mv -- "$f" "${f%.txt}.md"
> done
> ls report-*

output

report-1.md
report-2.md
report-3.md

${f%.txt} strips the .txt suffix, and the loop renames each file. Quoting "$f" keeps names with spaces intact, and -- protects against names starting with a dash.

Keep the file you are replacing

$ mv -b todo.txt notes.txt
> ls notes.txt*

output

notes.txt
notes.txt~

-b renames the existing notes.txt to notes.txt~ before the move replaces it.

Moving a file that does not exist

$ mv draft.txt final.txt

explain

outputexit 1

mv: cannot stat 'draft.txt': No such file or directory

mv reports the missing source and exits with 1.

A trailing slash catches typos in the destination

$ mv todo.txt archive/

explain

outputexit 1

mv: cannot move 'todo.txt' to 'archive/': Not a directory

archive does not exist. With the trailing slash, mv knows you meant a directory and fails instead of renaming todo.txt to a file called archive.

Common pitfalls

mv a b where b is an existing directory moves a into it; where b does not exist, it renames. Use mv -T a b to always mean rename, or a trailing slash to always mean into.
A cross-filesystem mv of a big tree that gets interrupted leaves a partial copy and an intact original. For large moves between disks, rsync --remove-source-files can resume.
Moving a file within the same filesystem keeps its original permissions and owner; it does not pick up the new directory's defaults.

GNU vs BSD and macOS

The examples above ran the GNU/Linux version. These are the differences that matter on macOS and the BSDs (written from their documentation, not run here).

-n, -i, -f and -v exist on both. -T, -t DIR, --backup/-b and --exchange are GNU options; check your system's man page on BSD/macOS.

Options worth knowing

A selection, described in our own words. For the full list, see mv(1) or mv --help.

Option	What it does
`-i, --interactive`	Ask before overwriting.
`-n, --no-clobber`	Never overwrite an existing file.
`-f, --force`	Do not prompt before overwriting.
`-v, --verbose`	Print each move.
`-u`	Move only when the source is newer or the destination is missing.
`-b`	Back up each destination file that would be replaced.
`--backup[=CONTROL]`	Back up replaced files: numbered, existing, simple or none.
`-S, --suffix SUFFIX`	Use SUFFIX for backups instead of ~.
`-t, --target-directory DIR`	Move all sources into DIR.
`-T, --no-target-directory`	Treat DEST as a name, never a directory to move into.
`--exchange`	Swap SOURCE and DEST atomically (needs filesystem support).

Examples

Common pitfalls

GNU vs BSD and macOS

Options worth knowing

Related