coreutils: mv invocation

1 
1 11.4 ‘mv’: Move (rename) files
1 ==============================
1 
1 ‘mv’ moves or renames files (or directories).  Synopses:
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1      mv [OPTION]... [-T] SOURCE DEST
1      mv [OPTION]... SOURCE... DIRECTORY
1      mv [OPTION]... -t DIRECTORY SOURCE...
1 
1    • If two file names are given, ‘mv’ moves the first file to the
1      second.
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1    • If the ‘--target-directory’ (‘-t’) option is given, or failing that
1      if the last file is a directory and the ‘--no-target-directory’
1      (‘-T’) option is not given, ‘mv’ moves each SOURCE file to the
1      specified directory, using the SOURCEs’ names.
1 
1    ‘mv’ can move any type of file from one file system to another.
1 Prior to version ‘4.0’ of the fileutils, ‘mv’ could move only regular
1 files between file systems.  For example, now ‘mv’ can move an entire
1 directory hierarchy including special device files from one partition to
1 another.  It first uses some of the same code that’s used by ‘cp -a’ to
1 copy the requested directories and files, then (assuming the copy
1 succeeded) it removes the originals.  If the copy fails, then the part
1 that was copied to the destination partition is removed.  If you were to
1 copy three directories from one partition to another and the copy of the
1 first directory succeeded, but the second didn’t, the first would be
1 left on the destination partition and the second and third would be left
1 on the original partition.
1 
1    ‘mv’ always tries to copy extended attributes (xattr), which may
1 include SELinux context, ACLs or Capabilities.  Upon failure all but
1 ‘Operation not supported’ warnings are output.
1 
1    If a destination file exists but is normally unwritable, standard
1 input is a terminal, and the ‘-f’ or ‘--force’ option is not given, ‘mv’
1 prompts the user for whether to replace the file.  (You might own the
1 file, or have write permission on its directory.)  If the response is
1 not affirmative, the file is skipped.
1 
1    _Warning_: Avoid specifying a source name with a trailing slash, when
1 it might be a symlink to a directory.  Otherwise, ‘mv’ may do something
1 very surprising, since its behavior depends on the underlying rename
1 system call.  On a system with a modern Linux-based kernel, it fails
1 with ‘errno=ENOTDIR’.  However, on other systems (at least FreeBSD 6.1
1 and Solaris 10) it silently renames not the symlink but rather the
1 directory referenced by the symlink.  ⇒Trailing slashes.
1 
1    _Note_: ‘mv’ will only replace empty directories in the destination.
1 Conflicting populated directories are skipped with a diagnostic.
1 
11    The program accepts the following options.  Also see ⇒Common
 options.
1 
1 ‘-b’
1 ‘--backup[=METHOD]’
1      ⇒Backup options.  Make a backup of each file that would
1      otherwise be overwritten or removed.
1 
1 ‘-f’
1 ‘--force’
1      Do not prompt the user before removing a destination file.  If you
1      specify more than one of the ‘-i’, ‘-f’, ‘-n’ options, only the
1      final one takes effect.
1 
1 ‘-i’
1 ‘--interactive’
1      Prompt whether to overwrite each existing destination file,
1      regardless of its permissions.  If the response is not affirmative,
1      the file is skipped.  If you specify more than one of the ‘-i’,
1      ‘-f’, ‘-n’ options, only the final one takes effect.
1 
1 ‘-n’
1 ‘--no-clobber’
1      Do not overwrite an existing file; silently do nothing instead.  If
1      you specify more than one of the ‘-i’, ‘-f’, ‘-n’ options, only the
1      final one takes effect.  This option is mutually exclusive with
1      ‘-b’ or ‘--backup’ option.
1 
1 ‘-u’
1 ‘--update’
1      Do not move a non-directory that has an existing destination with
1      the same or newer modification timestamp.  If the move is across
1      file system boundaries, the comparison is to the source timestamp
1      truncated to the resolutions of the destination file system and of
1      the system calls used to update timestamps; this avoids duplicate
1      work if several ‘mv -u’ commands are executed with the same source
1      and destination.  This option is ignored if the ‘-n’ or
1      ‘--no-clobber’ option is also specified.
1 
1 ‘-v’
1 ‘--verbose’
1      Print the name of each file before moving it.
1 
1 ‘--strip-trailing-slashes’
11      Remove any trailing slashes from each SOURCE argument.  ⇒
      Trailing slashes.
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1 ‘-S SUFFIX’
1 ‘--suffix=SUFFIX’
11      Append SUFFIX to each backup file made with ‘-b’.  ⇒Backup
      options.
1 
1 ‘-t DIRECTORY’
1 ‘--target-directory=DIRECTORY’
1      Specify the destination DIRECTORY.  ⇒Target directory.
1 
1 ‘-T’
1 ‘--no-target-directory’
1      Do not treat the last operand specially when it is a directory or a
1      symbolic link to a directory.  ⇒Target directory.
1 
1 ‘-Z’
1 ‘--context’
1      This option functions similarly to the ‘restorecon’ command, by
1      adjusting the SELinux security context according to the system
1      default type for destination files and each created directory.
1 
1    An exit status of zero indicates success, and a nonzero value
1 indicates failure.
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