Editing Mv (Unix) (section)

==Name clashing==
When a file is moved to a path that specifies an existing file, the existing file is [[clobbering|clobbered]] by default. If the existing file is not writable but is in a directory that is writable, the command prompts the user to confirm overwrite (if run from a terminal), unless the {{code|-f}} option is included.

Accidental overwriting can be prevented using the GNU implementation <code>-n</code> (long format: <code>--no-clobber</code>) option. Alternatively, <code>-u</code> (<code>--update</code>) only overwrites destination files that are older than source files, <code>-i</code> (<code>--interactive</code>) asks for confirmation upon each name conflict, and <code>-b</code> (<code>--backup</code>) renames target files to prevent overwrite.

Ambiguity arises when a file is moved to a path that specifies an existing directory. By default, <code>mv</code> handles this by moving the file inside the directory. The GNU implementation has a {{code|-T}} switch for that tries to overwrite the directory instead. An inverse {{code|-t}} makes the move-to-directory operation explicit.<ref name=gnu>{{man|1|mv|ManKier}}</ref>