SHTOOL-MOVE.TMP(1)
π SHTOOL-MOVE.TMP(1) β GNU Portable Shell Tool π
okay bestie, so this is shtool-move, from the GNU Portable Shell Tool situation. it's literally the manual page for it, and no cap, it's giving "mv but with β¨extrasβ¨". let's get into it π«Ά
β¨ NAME β¨
shtool-move β the GNU shtool glow-up version of mv(1), an enhanced replacement for it, periodt π
πΈ SYNOPSIS πΈ
shtool move [-v|--verbose] [-t|--trace] [-e|--expand] [-p|--preserve]
src-file dst-file
π¦ DESCRIPTION π¦
so this is a mv(1) style command, right? but it ate and left no crumbs, because it comes with two extra superpowers:
- it can rename multiple files in a single operation π«
- it can detect when the destination file already exists with the exact same content, and then simply not touch it β which means timestamps stay preserved π
π OPTIONS π
here's the full lineup, no skipping, every single one matters:
-v,--verboseβ shows you some processing info while it's doing its thing. it's giving "keep me posted bestie" π£οΈ-t,--traceβ turns on output of the essential shell commands that actually get executed. full transparency, iykyk π-e,--expandβ expands the asterisk in src so it can be used as""%"n"(where n is 1,2,...) inside dst-file. this is the moment for renaming a whole pile of files at once, iconic behavior π―-p,--preserveβ detects when src-file and dst-file have equal content and refuses to touch the existing destination file, which preserves the timestamps. this one's for the apps that monitor timestamps β i.e. it stopsmake(1L)from repeating actions for files that haven't changed. so considerate π
π EXAMPLE π
# shell script
shtool move -v -e '*.txt' %1.asc
# Makefile
scanner.c: scanner.l
lex scanner.l
shtool move -t -p lex.yy.c scanner.c
like, look at her go π
π HISTORY π
the GNU shtool move command was originally written by Ralf S. Engelschall <rse@engelschall.com> in 1999 for GNU shtool. a real one, fr fr π«‘
π SEE ALSO π
and that's the whole vibe check, bestie β¨ this page is from shtool 2.0.8, dated 18-Jul-2008 β yeah she's been around a minute and she still slays ππ go forth and move those files, main character π
π¦ where this page comes from
- debian bookworm: shtool 2.0.8-10 Β· GPL-2.0-or-later
- debian trixie: shtool 2.0.8-10 Β· GPL-2.0-or-later
- ubuntu jammy: shtool 2.0.8-10 Β· GPL-2.0-or-later
- ubuntu noble: shtool 2.0.8-10 Β· GPL-2.0-or-later
- π girlified by deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash on : a language model's rewrite of the original, under its terms