Which means the content of the existing target file will be changed with the content of the source file. However, if the target_file already exists, it will overwrite it without asking.

In the above example, if the target_fille doesn’t exist in the target_directory, it will create the target_file. mv source_file target_directory/target_file If you use mv command and specify a file name in the destination, the source file will be renamed to the target_file. One essential use of mv command is in renaming of files. txt and moves them to the target directory. You can also use glob to move multiple files matching a pattern.įor example in the above example, instead of providing all the files individually, you can also use the glob that matches all the files with the extension. mv file1.txt file.2.txt file3.txt target_directory If you want to move multiple files at once, just provide all the files to the move command followed by the destination directory. This command will move the source_file and put it in the target_directory. To do that, you just have to specify the source file and the destination directory or file. The first and the simplest example is to move a file. How to move a file to different directory Let’s see some of the useful examples of the mv command. Using mv command is fairly simple and if you learn a few options, it will become even better. Mv command can also be used for renaming a file.

That’s what a cut-paste operation, isn’t it? cp command = copy and paste Which means that when you use the mv command on a file or directory, the file or directory is moved to a new place and the source file/directory doesn’t exist anymore. Whereas the mv command can be equated with the cut-paste operation. You can think of the cp command as a copy-paste operation.

The syntax is similar to the cp command in Linux however there is one fundamental difference between these two commands. mv stands for move and is essentially used for moving files or directories from one location to another. Mv is one of the must known commands in Linux.

Move file linux terminal