Move one folder to another linux

How do I move all files from one folder to another using the command line?

I would like to know how could I move all files from a folder to another folder with a command line. Let’s say I’m in my Downloads folder and there are a 100 files that I would like to move to my Videos folder, without having to write all the files name.

You’re asking about moving files but people showing you how to move not only files but folders as well. Is that OK?

@Hontvári Levente gave an answer a year ago that seems to be by far the best, clean, simple, and it works. So how did it get only 3 votes (as compared to 262 for the answer currently at the top)?

12 Answers 12

Open a terminal and execute this command:

It will move all the files and folders from Downloads folder to Videos folder.

To move all files, but not folders:

If you are interested in moving all files (but not folders) from Downloads folder to Videos folder, use this command

find ~/Downloads/ -type f -print0 | xargs -0 mv -t ~/Videos 

To move only files from the Download folders, but not from sub-folders:

If you want to move all files from the Downloads folder, but not any files within folders in the Download folder, use this command:

find ~/Downloads/ -maxdepth 1 -type f -print0 | xargs -0 mv -t ~/Videos 

here, -maxdepth option specifies how deep find should try, 1 means, only the directory specified in the find command. You can try using 2 , 3 also to test.

See the Ubuntu find manpage for a detailed explanation

Nb. your -print0 | xargs -0 mv -t ~/Videos can be more efficiently done with -exec mv -t ~/Videos \ \+ 🙂

for hidden files trick folder/.* (note the dot) works — it says some busy errors, but the move still happens => source: askubuntu.com/a/399632

It will move all the files including subfolders in the directory you want to mv . If you want to cp (copy) or rm (remove) you will need the -r (recursive) option to include subfolders.

@MarkDoliner, yes, mv doesn’t need recursive option to include subfolders. One can use it also for renaming.

If you want to move dot (hidden) files too, then set the dotglob shell option.

shopt -s dotglob mv ~/Downloads/* ~/Videos 

This leaves the shell option set.

For one time dotglob use, run the commands in a subshell:

(shopt -s dotglob; mv ~/Downloads/* ~/Videos) 

A note for myself: The last option (shopt -s dotglob; mv ~/Downloads/* ~/Videos) only moves (cuts) the contents (including the hidden files). In this case, both the origin and destination folders must exist already. At the end, the origin directory becomes empty.

It works only under certain conditions (namely, if length of files is less than getconf ARG_MAX bytes)

Yes. On Ubuntu 20.04 getconf ARG_MAX is 2MiB. Therefore this method works if there are less than about 250,000 files in the directory.

It’s possible by using rsync , for example:

rsync -vau --remove-source-files src/ dst/ 

-v , —verbose : Increase verbosity.

-a , —archive : Archive mode; equals -rlptgoD (no -H , -A , -X ).

-u , —update : Skip files that are newer on the receiver.

—remove-source-files This tells rsync to remove from the sending side the files (meaning non-directories) that are a part of the transfer and have been successfully duplicated on the receiving side.

If you’ve root privileges, prefix with sudo to override potential permission issues.

WARNING! the —delete-after option as noted doesn’t work the way you might expect. It doesn’t delete the source files after successful copy. IT DELETES ALL THE REMAINING/OTHER FILES IN THE DESTINATION. (as @kenorb noted. but I didn’t read carefully enough! DOH)

To move a directory with or without content to its new name just like how you would use the mv command to rename a file:

• -T treats the destination as a normal file
• dir1 is the original name of the directory
• dir2 is the new name of the directory

NB: dir2 doesn’t have to exist.

I hope this saves someone a lot of time, as a noob, before this, I would create a directory with the new name and then move the contents of the directory to the directory created earlier.

Use for subdirectories

This command is useful when many files have been saved in a subfolder of the target directory i.e. Downloads/mp4 . In this example, running mv -T Downloads/mp4 Videos will result in mp4 subfolder being removed and all files contained inside are moved to Videos folder.

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Linux fundamentals: How to copy, move, and rename files and directories

Copying, moving, and renaming files and directories are standard tasks for sysadmins and end users. Depending on your Linux distribution, you can accomplish these operations in various ways.

The Bash shell is usually the most efficient tool for file management. This article assumes you already have a basic understanding of how to open a Linux terminal and enter commands. (See How to access the Linux terminal if you want a refresher.) Connect to your Linux terminal with your regular user account, and get ready to reorganize.

Change to your home directory and create a new directory named mydir for the exercises. The command to create a new directory is mkdir :

Move files and directories

The mv command moves both directories and files. Check its options and parameters from the —help results below:

$ mv --help Usage: mv [OPTION]. [-T] SOURCE DEST or: mv [OPTION]. SOURCE. DIRECTORY or: mv [OPTION]. -t DIRECTORY SOURCE. Rename SOURCE to DEST, or move SOURCE(s) to DIRECTORY. Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too. --backup[=CONTROL] make a backup of each existing destination file -b like --backup but does not accept an argument -f, --force do not prompt before overwriting -i, --interactive prompt before overwrite -n, --no-clobber do not overwrite an existing file If you specify more than one of -i, -f, -n, only the final one takes effect. --strip-trailing-slashes remove any trailing slashes from each SOURCE argument -S, --suffix=SUFFIX override the usual backup suffix -t, --target-directory=DIRECTORY move all SOURCE arguments into DIRECTORY -T, --no-target-directory treat DEST as a normal file -u, --update move only when the SOURCE file is newer than the destination file or when the destination file is missing -v, --verbose explain what is being done -Z, --context set SELinux security context of destination file to default type --help display this help and exit --version output version information and exit The backup suffix is '~', unless set with --suffix or SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX. The version control method may be selected via the --backup option or through the VERSION_CONTROL environment variable. Here are the values: none, off never make backups (even if --backup is given) numbered, t make numbered backups existing, nil numbered if numbered backups exist, simple otherwise simple, never always make simple backups

Rename files and directories

You also use the mv command to rename directories and files if the destination doesn’t already exist. If the destination exists, then they’re moved using the syntax mv . Here is an example of moving existing files to existing directories:

$ ls -l total 0 drwxrwxr-x. 2 localuser localuser 6 Jun 9 14:57 dir1 drwxrwxr-x. 2 localuser localuser 6 Jun 9 17:52 dir2 drwxrwxr-x. 2 localuser localuser 6 Jun 9 17:52 dir3 drwxrwxr-x. 3 localuser localuser 21 Jun 9 16:57 dir4 -rw-rw-r--. 1 localuser localuser 0 Jun 9 17:31 file1 -rw-rw-r--. 1 localuser localuser 0 Jun 9 17:33 file2 -rw-rw-r--. 1 localuser localuser 0 Jun 9 17:33 file3 $ mv file1 dir1/ $ mv file2 dir2/ $ mv file3 dir3/ $ ls -l total 0 drwxrwxr-x. 2 localuser localuser 19 Jun 9 17:53 dir1 drwxrwxr-x. 2 localuser localuser 19 Jun 9 17:53 dir2 drwxrwxr-x. 2 localuser localuser 19 Jun 9 17:53 dir3 drwxrwxr-x. 3 localuser localuser 21 Jun 9 16:57 dir4 [mydir]$ ls -lR .: total 0 drwxrwxr-x. 2 localuser localuser 19 Jun 9 17:53 dir1 drwxrwxr-x. 2 localuser localuser 19 Jun 9 17:53 dir2 drwxrwxr-x. 2 localuser localuser 19 Jun 9 17:53 dir3 drwxrwxr-x. 3 localuser localuser 21 Jun 9 16:57 dir4 ./dir1: total 0 -rw-rw-r--. 1 localuser localuser 0 Jun 9 17:31 file1 ./dir2: total 0 -rw-rw-r--. 1 localuser localuser 0 Jun 9 17:33 file2 ./dir3: total 0 -rw-rw-r--. 1 localuser localuser 0 Jun 9 17:33 file3 ./dir4: total 0 drwxrwxr-x. 2 localuser localuser 19 Jun 9 17:35 subdir1 ./dir4/subdir1: total 0 -rw-rw-r--. 1 localuser localuser 0 Jun 9 17:35 file4

[ Boost your Bash skills. Download the Bash shell scripting cheat sheet. ]

And you can use the mv command to move directories into other directories:

$ ls -1 dir1 dir2 dir3 dir4 $ mv dir1/ dir2/ $ mv dir2/ dir3/ $ ls -1 dir3 dir4

The dir1 and dir2 directories still exist; you’ve just moved them. See what it looks like for yourself:

$ ls -R dir3 dir4 ./dir3: dir2 file3 ./dir3/dir2: dir1 file2 ./dir3/dir2/dir1: file1 ./dir4: subdir1 ./dir4/subdir1: file4

Copy files and directories

The cp command copies both files and directories. This command has many options, but the basic syntax is simple. Run cp to copy from one place (source) to another (destination). Consider the following example:

$ ls -1 dir3 dir4 $ cp dir4/subdir1/file4 . $ ls -1 dir3 dir4 file4 $ ls -R dir4/ dir4/: subdir1 dir4/subdir1: file4

To copy an entire directory with its contents, use the -R option, as seen below:

$ cp -R dir3/ dir4/ $ ls -R dir3 dir4 file4 ./dir3: total 0 dir2 file3 ./dir3/dir2: dir1 file2 ./dir3/dir2/dir1: file1 ./dir4: dir3 subdir1 ./dir4/dir3: dir2 file3 ./dir4/dir3/dir2: file2 ./dir4/dir3/dir2/dir1: file1 ./dir4/subdir1: file4

Great Linux resources

When you copy empty directories into other directories, there’s no need for the -R parameter.

More to explore

For each command I’ve demonstrated, there are many more options I’ve left out for the sake of brevity.

As a sysadmin, you must know how to copy, move, and rename files and directories. These file-management commands are the basis of much of what you do on the system and are the building blocks for effective Linux administration. I hope this article aids you in understanding this topic, helps your Linux certification path, and adds to your general sysadmin knowledge.

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How to move all files and folders via mv command [duplicate]

Good point. If you are using bash, then you can run shopt -s dotglob and then «*» will match hidden files, too.

What happens if there are folders and files with the same name in the destination folder? Are they overwritten?

. it seems folders with the same name are not overwritten. mv: cannot move ‘/a/js’ to ‘/b/js’: Directory not empty

I know I accepted the first answer many years ago, and it’s stupid for me now to change it. But actually, I’ve been always using this method.

This works for me in Bash (I think this depends on your shell quite a bit. )

$ mv source/* /destination/folder/here 

When I try I get mv: overwrite ‘destination/.’? mv: overwrite ‘destination/..’? , but adding -n to mv stops it from trying to overwrite

@Putnik — that’s a good gotcha! what os/distro ? ( I was working on OSX when I was messing around with this. )

This works for me in Bash 4.2.46, it moves all files and folders including hidden files and folders to another directory

Notice that .[^.]* means all hidden files except . and ..

I’d say it’s a bit boring, but really bullet-proof (GNU) way is:

cd /SourceDir && find ./ -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 -exec mv -t /Target/Dir <> +

P. S. Now you can possibly see why lots of people do prefer Midnight Commander, though.

If you only want to do a cut and paste-like action there is a simple way that worked for me:

$mv /media/dir_source $HOME/Documents/ 

It will move the folder named dir_source located in /media to the directory $HOME/Documents/

yet another way just for the heck of it (because I love convoluted ways to do things I guess)

cd /source for f in $(\ls -QA); do eval mv $f /destination/$f; done 

the -Q and the -A are not POSIX, however the -A is fairly prevalent, and to not use the -Q you need to change the IFS (which then means you don’t need the eval but need to quote the variable)

IFS=" " && for f in $(ls -A); do mv "$f" /destination/"$f"; done 

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