Editing Mv (Unix) (section)

{{Short description|Shell command for moving files}}
{{Lowercase title}}
{{Infobox software
| name                   = mv
| author                 = [[Ken Thompson]], [[Dennis Ritchie]]<br />([[AT&T Bell Laboratories]])
| developer              = Various [[open-source software|open-source]] and [[commercial software|commercial]] developers
| released               = {{Start date and age|1971|11|3}}
| latest release version = 
| latest release date    = 
| operating system       = [[Unix]], [[Unix-like]], [[Inferno (operating system)|Inferno]], [[IBM i]]
| platform               = [[Cross-platform]]
| genre                  = [[Command (computing)|Command]]
| license                = [[coreutils]]: [[GPLv3]]
| website                = 
}}
<code>'''mv'''</code> is a [[shell (computing)|shell]] [[command (computing)|command]] for renaming and moving [[computer file|files]] and [[directory (computing)|directories]]. If both items are on the same [[file system]], the command renames; otherwise items are copied to the destination and the old items are removed (more specifically [[unlink (Unix)|unlinked]]). To move between two directories, the user must have write permission for both because the command modifies the content of both. For a rename, an item's timestamp is not modified.

On [[Unix]] implementations derived from [[AT&T Unix]], <code>[[cp (Unix)|cp]]</code>, <code>[[ln (Unix)|ln]]</code> and <code>mv</code> are implemented as a single program with [[hard-linked]] binaries.