How do I move all files from one folder to another using the command line?

I would like to know how could I move all files from a folder to another folder with a command line.

Let's say I'm in my Downloads folder and there are a 100 files that I would like to move to my Videos folder, without having to write all the files name.

Solution 1:

Open a terminal and execute this command:

mv  -v ~/Downloads/* ~/Videos/

It will move all the files and folders from Downloads folder to Videos folder.

To move all files, but not folders:

If you are interested in moving all files (but not folders) from Downloads folder to Videos folder, use this command

find ~/Downloads/ -type f -print0 | xargs -0 mv -t ~/Videos

To move only files from the Download folders, but not from sub-folders:

If you want to move all files from the Downloads folder, but not any files within folders in the Download folder, use this command:

find ~/Downloads/ -maxdepth 1 -type f -print0 | xargs -0 mv -t ~/Videos

here, -maxdepth option specifies how deep find should try, 1 means, only the directory specified in the find command. You can try using 2, 3 also to test.

See the Ubuntu find manpage for a detailed explanation

Solution 2:

mv ~/Downloads/* ~/Videos

It will move all the files including subfolders in the directory you want to mv. If you want to cp (copy) or rm (remove) you will need the -r (recursive) option to include subfolders.

Solution 3:

For the simple case:

mv ~/Downloads/* ~/Videos

If you want to move dot (hidden) files too, then set the dotglob shell option.

shopt -s dotglob
mv ~/Downloads/* ~/Videos

This leaves the shell option set.

For one time dotglob use, run the commands in a subshell:

(shopt -s dotglob; mv ~/Downloads/* ~/Videos)

Solution 4:

It's possible by using rsync, for example:

rsync -vau --remove-source-files src/ dst/

where:

-v, --verbose: Increase verbosity.

-a, --archive: Archive mode; equals -rlptgoD (no -H, -A, -X).

-u, --update: Skip files that are newer on the receiver.

--remove-source-files This tells rsync to remove from the sending side the files (meaning non-directories) that are a part of the transfer and have been successfully duplicated on the receiving side.

If you've root privileges, prefix with sudo to override potential permission issues.