Re: mv to a non-existent path now renames instead of failing

[Stephane Chazelas]

2016-03-17 09:00:37 -0600, Eric Blake:
[...]
> That said, if you WANT an error if 'two/' does not exist, and to move
> 'one' to 'two/one' if 'two/' does exist, you can always use:
> 
> mv one two/.
> 
> where the trailing '.' changes the semantics required of the rename()
> call, and forces an error if 'two/' does not exist.
[...]

See also the GNU-specific

mv -t two one

To move one into two.

For the reverse: force a move-to as opposed to a move-into,
another GNU-specific option:

mv -T one two

if two is a directory, you'll get an error. If two is a symlink
(to directory or other), one is renamed to two (and the symlink
is gone).

FreeBSD mv has:

mv -h one two

To do a move-to instead of move-into when "two" is a symlink to
a directory.

-- 
Stephane