---
title: "mv command"
description: "Moving or renaming files can be accomplished with the mv command. Command: mv Synopsis: mv [OPTION]... [-T] SOURCE DEST mv [OPTION]... SOURCE... DIRECTORY mv [OPTION]... -t DIRECTORY SOURCE......"
url: https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/server/linux/mv-command/
date: 2014-06-02
modified: 2014-06-02
author: "Scott Mitchell"
categories: ["Linux"]
type: post
lang: en
---

# mv command

Moving or renaming files can be accomplished with the *mv* command.

**Command: **mv
**Synopsis: ** mv ... [-T] SOURCE DEST
mv ... SOURCE... DIRECTORY
mv ... -t DIRECTORY SOURCE...

**Options: **
Below is a list of the options that can be used with the *mv* command. You can use more than one at a time by stacking them.

| Option | Long Name | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| | --backup[=CONTROL] | Make a backup of each existing destination file. |
| -b | | Like --backup but does not accept an argument. |
| -S | -suffix=SUFFIX | Override the usual backup suffix./td> |
| -t | --target-directory=DIRECTORY | Move all SOURCE arguments into DIRECTORY |
| -T | --no-target-directory | Treat DEST as a normal file. |
| -u | --update | Performs the move only when the SOURCE file is newer than the destination file or when the destination file is missing. |
| -v | --verbose | Displays an explanation of what is being done. |
| | --help | Display this help and exit. |
| | --version | Output version information and exit. |

## Examples

**Renaming a file** When renaming a file in the same directory, no directory information is included. The only parameters needed are the old and new file names. Below we rename the original *oldtext.txt* file to *newtext.txt*. mv oldtext.txt newtext.txt

**Moving a file to another directory** In this example we are moving the file *somefile.txt* to a subfolder named *level2*. The second parameter includes the relative path as well as the file name. mv somefile.txt level2/somefile.txt

**Moving to another folder while renaming** This example is much like the example above, but we are also renaming the file as it is moved. The second parameter includes the destination folder as well as the new name. mv somefile.txt level2/newname.txt