INTRODUCTION

Rename/Move :mv is Linux command that can use to rename files and directories; it also used to move files and directories from one location to another, same like cut and paste command in MS Windows.

SOLUTION

Syntax of mv command:

$ mv [options] source dest 

Examples:

To rename mydata.txt to mynewdata.txt, following command will use:

# mv mydata.txt mynewdata.txt

Absolute path will be used if the file is not on present working directory.

Absolute path example:

 # mv /tmp/mydata.txt /home/haider/mynewdata.txt

Above command will cut mydata.txt file from /tmp directory and paste it with mynewdata.txt into /home/haider directory with new name mynewdata.txt. This command is performing both functions at once, Move and Rename.

TIP: You can move files based on extensions, see following command:

 # mv /invoices/*.xls /Excel-Files 

Now mv command will look all the files with .xls extension in /invoices directory and move into /Excel-Files directory.

Delete files and directories:

The rm command is used to remove or delete files in Linux. By default, it does not remove directories; will see below how to remove directories with rm command.

Warning: Always use rm command wisely..! rm command operation can’t be undo.

Syntax:

 # rm [Option] [File/Directory]

Example:

# rm mydata.txt

To delete directories including all subdirectories use the –r option as follows:

 # rm -rf old-backups

In above command I used, r (recursive) and f (force) .

Next: Search for Files in Linux