move linux directory unless it already exists

Question

I need a way to move a linux directory and all of it's contents only if it doesn't currently exist in the target location. If it does currently exist (including all sub-folders and files) then the source folder can just can just be removed recursively.

I currently use the following framework but wish to expand it to meet the above criteria.

mv /source/* /target

Thanks

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:36

1

rsync -av --remove-source-files source/ destination/ && rm -rf source/

Replace source/ and destination/ accordingly.

Source

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:36

Community

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answered May 20 '16 at 22:50

Daniel Arnett

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Great. Just what I needed. – user1658170 May 21 '16 at 06:56

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered May 20 '16 at 22:49

Gnu mv has the -n or --no-clobber option. Unfortunately, it seems to return with an successful exit status even if the mv was a no-op due to the --no-clobber option, however it seems that in your use case, you can simply do the --no-clobber move and then clear the source if the move succeeds regardless of whether or not it did anything.

move linux directory unless it already exists

2 Answers2