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Arnošt Havelka

Moving and Renaming Files

Use mv to move files between directories and rename them.

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Moving and Renaming Files

Moving and Renaming Files

The mv command moves and renames files. It's faster than copy-then-delete because it doesn't duplicate data.

Rename a File

Use mv oldname newname to rename a file in the same directory.

Usage:mvoldnamenewname
mv
Move or rename - relocates or renames files and directories.

Change a name:

Command Prompt
draft.txt
C:\Users\User>ls

Move to Another Directory

Use mv file directory/ to move a file to a different folder.

Usage:mvfile.txtdirectory/
directory/
Target directory - relocates file to the specified folder.

Relocate a file:

Command Prompt
file.txt Archive/ ls Archive/
C:\Users\User>ls

Move and Rename Together

Combine both operations by specifying the full path with a new name.

Usage:mvfile.txtdirectory/newname.txt
directory/newname
Full path with new name - moves and renames in one step.

Two operations at once:

Command Prompt
draft.txt
C:\Users\User>ls

Knowledge Check

1 / 3

What does mv do?

References

These Microsoft Learn and Windows documentation links provide authoritative details for the commands used in this article.

Up Next

Removing Files and Directories

Learn rm and rmdir to delete files and directories safely.