FDMOVE(1)

🌸 FDMOVE(1) 🌸

okay so bestie, you're reading the fdmove page from the General Commands Manual — yes, that General Commands Manual — and it's genuinely one of those tiny tools that eats. let me put you on 💅

✨ NAME ✨

fdmove — move or copy a given file descriptor, then execute a program 🫶

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

fdmove [-c] fdto fdfrom prog...

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

okay so here's the whole vibe: fdmove takes the file descriptor number fdfrom and moves it to number fdto, and then it exec(3)s into prog with its arguments. that's it. that's the whole personality. 🎀

and like, important detail: if fdto is already open, fdmove closes it first, before it moves fdfrom onto it. no leftovers, no mess, we love a clean slate ✨

so fdmove a b prog... is roughly equivalent to this little number:

sh -c 'exec prog... a>&b b<&-'

which means — and stay with me here — if you write to fd a now, it'll have the exact same effect as writing to fd b beforehand. and you cannot write to fd b anymore. it's gone. moved out. no forwarding address 😭

and then fdmove -c a b prog... is roughly equivalent to:

sh -c 'exec prog... a>&b'

which means: you can now write to fd a, and you can also still write to fd b, and both of those do the same thing as writing to fd b beforehand. two doors, one room. iconic. 👑

and the plot twist?? it also works with file descriptors that are open for reading! not just writing! equal opportunity file descriptors fr fr 💖

✨ OPTIONS ✨

• -c — duplicate fdfrom to fdto instead of moving it; do not close fdfrom. basically keep the original around too, no cap 🦋

✨ SEE ALSO ✨

emptyenv(1), envfile(1), exec(1), execline-cd(1), execline-umask(1), exit(1), export(1), fdblock(1), fdclose(1), fdreserve(1), fdswap(1), getcwd(1), getpid(1), heredoc(1), piperw(1), posix-cd(1), posix-umask(1), redirfd(1), trap(1), tryexec(1), unexport(1), wait(1), withstdinas(1), exec(3)

this man page is ported from the authoritative documentation at: https://skarnet.org/software/execline/fdmove.html — go check the source bestie, it's giving credibility 🌈

✨ AUTHORS ✨

• Laurent Bercot
• Alexis <flexibeast@gmail.com> (man page port)

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and that's the whole page, bestie! 💜 this one's from Debian, dated February 16, 2021, and it's the FDMOVE(1) page — go move some file descriptors, you're gonna slay 🧚⭐🔥