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mvWe can move files and directories through the Linux terminal using the command with various parameters .

Use mvthe command to move files and directories

mv(move)The command can move files and directories from one location to another. It can also be used to rename files and directories.

mvCommand Syntax

mv [OPTIONS] source destination

The in the above command sourcecan be one or more files or directories, destinationbut is always one file or directory.

If we have multiple files or directories as source, the target is always a directory. In this case, all source files and directories will be moved to the target directory. If we have a single file as source and a directory as target, the file will be moved to the target directory.

One thing to note when moving files and directories is that if we do not have write permissions on the source file and destination directory, we will get a permission denied error.

Use mvthe command to move the file to the directory

We can use the following command to move files within a directory.

mv <filename> <path_of _destination_directory>

mv ILLUMEE.svg SVG

It moves the files in the current working directory ILLUMEE.svgto the folder in the current working directory SVG.

If the destination directory does not exist, the source file is renamed to the destination file.

If the directory does not exist in the current working directory SVG, the file is ILLUMEE.svgrenamed to SVG.

If the target path is also a file name, the source and target file names are renamed.

mv ILLUMEE.svg 1.svg

It will ILLUMEE.svgrename the file to 1.svg.

In some cases, the destination file may already exist mvand it will be overwritten if we use the -r command. In order to prompt for confirmation before overwriting, we use -ithe -p option with mvthe -r command.

mv -i ILLUMEE.svg 1.svg

If the file name 1.svgalready exists, the terminal will prompt us before overwriting it.

mv -i ILLUMEE.svg 1.svg

Output:

mv: overwrite '1.svg'? n

If you want to prevent overwriting, press Nthe key and then press Enterthe key, otherwise press Ythe key and then press Enterthe key.

We can also prevent overwriting by using the -p option mvof the command .-n

mv -n ILLUMEE.svg 1.svg

If 1.svgit already exists, it will prevent overwriting.

Use mvthe command to move a directory into another directory

To move a directory inside another directory, we can use the following command.

mv <path_of_source_directory> <path_of _destination_directory>

mv Python_Scripts Python_Scripts_New

It moves a directory in the current working directory Python_Scriptsto another directory in the current working directory Python_Scripts_New.

If the destination directory does not exist, the source directory is renamed to the destination directory.

Use mvthe command to move multiple files to another directory

To move multiple files to another directory, we specify the destination directory path after specifying all the source files.

mv <source_filepath_1> <source_filepath_2> <source_filepath_3> 
     <path_of_destination_directory>

mv 1.jpg 2.jpg 2.png Images

It moves the file in our current working directory 1.jpg, 2.jpg, to another directory under the current working directory .2.pngImages

We can also move multiple files in a directory by using regular expressions to match the file names that need to be moved.

mv *.jpg JPG-Images

.jpgIt moves all files ending with to JPG-Imagesthe folder.

Back up existing files

To make a backup of the existing file, we use -bthe -r option. It will create a backup of the file that is being overwritten and append -r characters to the name of the backup file ~.

mv -b abc.jpg 123.jpg
ls

Output:

123.jpg 123.jpg~