cannot move to a subdirectory of itself

Question

I have 2 folders:

/home/sphinx/articlesdb/

and:

/home/sphinx/tmp/articlesdb/

I want to move and overwrite all of the files from tmp into the main folder.

I am currently using:

mv -f /home/sphinx/tmp/articlesdb/ /home/sphinx/

But I get this error:

mv: cannot move `/home/sphinx/tmp/articlesdb/' to a subdirectory of itself, `/home/sphinx/articlesdb'

It needs to do this as fast as possible so I don't want to copy.

Should I remove /home/sphinx/articlesdb/ completely and then run the mv command or do I just need to tweak the command slightly?

Are there any linked folders involved here? – Chris S Mar 15 '11 at 15:36 — Chris S, Mar 15 '11 at 15:36

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 15 '11 at 15:33

1

What happens if you ensure that /home/sphinx/articlesdb is empty, then do

cd /home/sphinx/tmp/articlesdb
mv * /home/sphinx/articlesdb/

answered Mar 15 '11 at 15:33

MadHatter

Or if you go to `/home/sphinx/tmp` and do `mv articlesdb /home/sphinx/`. – Massimo Mar 16 '11 at 11:59

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 16 '11 at 11:46

0

Decided to delete the original folder and then move it from tmp.

answered Mar 16 '11 at 11:46

fire

Glad you resolved [or created a work around for] this issue. Please be sure to mark your answer as "accepted" when you are able. – jscott Jul 24 '12 at 23:34

2 Answers2