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Typically, mv is one of the first Linux commands you learn.
But one little slip, and things can get surprisingly confusing for the user.
Sometimes it looks like moved files have simply vanished.
Lucas Gouveia / How-To Geek
How This Particular Problem Foxes People
Moving a file on thecommand line is pretty simple.
You specify the file you want to move, and where you want to move it to.
But still, its easy for a new user to find themselves exasperated and frustrated over mv.
They make a run at move a file into a directory, and it seems to work.
They dont get a confirmation message, but neither do they get an oops message.
Linux often takes the no news is good news approach.
If you dont get an error alert, it must have worked.
When they cd into the target directory, the file isnt there.
And of course, because mv moves the file from the original directory, its not there either.
Its starting to look like the file has been lost in the ether.
This is usually the point where the frustrated user reaches out for help.
Youre going to keep the same filename.
By default, mv uses the original filename.
Weve got a file in the ~/Downloads/src directory.
We move it to the ~/Documents/backup directory.
As expected, its now in the backup directory, and it has been removed from the src directory.
Thats nice and simple, and everything works as expected.
But let’s say our Linux newcomer isnt usingtab completion.
They’re typing the directory paths by hand.
If they misspell the name of the final directory, we get a very different behavior.
Theyve made a typo with the target directory name, but mv exits silently back to the command prompt.
On the face of it, it looks like the file move worked.
The original and target directories are both empty.
Where did the file go?
Bash tries to find a directory called backpu, but can’t find one.
It concludes you want to rename your moved file to backpu.
Youll find a file called backpu one directory level higher than your target directory.
That way, if you make a typo, Bash reports an error.
The trailing slash explicitly tells Bash that this is a directory name, not a filename.
Because Bash cant find the misspelled directory, it reports the error to you and doesnt move anything.
This is a better outcome for failures.
Youre alerted to the error, and the original file remains touched.
All the directory names are automatically spelled correctly, and a trailing slash is added to the final directory.
Its Not Exactly Slashs Fault
Slash didnt make the typo, after all.
