Manage files in Terminal on Mac
In Terminal, you can move and copy files locally or remotely using the mv
, cp
and scp
command-line tools.
Tip: It’s easier to move and copy files using the Finder. See Organise files in folders.
Move a file or folder locally
In the Terminal app on your Mac, use the
mv
command to move files or folders from one location to another on the same computer. Themv
command moves the file or folder from its old location and puts it in the new location.For example, to move a file from your Downloads folder to a Work folder in your Documents folder:
% mv ~/Downloads/MyFile.txt ~/Documents/Work/MyFile.txt
You can also change the name of the file as it’s moved:
% mv ~/Downloads/MyFile.txt ~/Documents/Work/NewFileName.txt
See the mv command man page.
Copy a file or folder locally
In the Terminal app on your Mac, use the
cp
command to make a copy of a file.For example, to copy a folder named Expenses in your Documents folder to another volume named Data:
% cp -R ~/Documents/Expenses /Volumes/Data/Expenses
The
-R
flag causescp
to copy the folder and its contents. Note that the folder name does not end with a slash, which would change howcp
copies the folder.
See the cp command man page.
Copy a file or folder remotely
In the Terminal app on your Mac, use the
scp
command to copy a file or folder to or from a remote computer.scp
uses the same underlying protocols asssh
.For example, to copy a compressed file from your home folder to another user’s home folder on a remote server:
% scp -E ~/ImportantPapers.tgz username@remoteserver.com:/Users/username/Desktop/ImportantPapers.tgz
You’re prompted for the user’s password.
The
-E
flag preserves extended attributes, resource forks and ACL information.The
-r
flag, which isn’t used in this example, causesscp
to copy a folder and its contents.
See the scp command man page.