Move folder content up one level

Question

I have a directory that is unpacked, but is in a folder. How can I move the contents up one level? I am accessing CentOS via SSH.

Answer 1

With the folder called 'myfolder' and up one level in the file hierarchy (the point you want it to put) the command would be:

mv myfolder/* .

So for example if the data was in /home/myuser/myfolder then from /home/myuser/ run the command.

Answer 2

Just to make it crystal clear, taken from Rudu's answer above, and the comments.

If you need to move all the contents, INCLUDING files that start with a . (like .htaccess, .git, etc), you need to include both * and .* in your command. Like so:

 mv subfolder/* subfolder/.* .

That will move contents of subfolder to your current folder. Note the space before the last ".".

Answer 3

This is possible with the following methods:

• Using rsync:

  rsync -vua --delete-after foo/ .
  

• Using cp and rmdir:

  cp -vaR foo/. . && rmdir foo/
  

• Using mv (with dotglob option enabled):

  shopt -s dotglob # Includes filenames beginning with a dot.
  mv -- foo/* .    # Where foo/ is the folder consisting the files.
  shopt -u dotglob # Disables previously enabled dotglob option.
  

  where foo/ is your folder whose content is to be moved one level up.

  ^{See: help shopt and man bash.}

• Using mv (as suggested here):

  mv foo/* foo/.[^.]* . && rmdir foo/
  

  ^{Note: It would miss a file called foo/..bar...}

  ^{Note: For POSIX shells, you need [!.].}

Answer 4

just issue an mv command

mv (directory)/* .

if you want to delete the directory then add

rm -rf (directory)

Assumed that you are in a parent directory of (directory)

If you are inside the (directory) then

mv * ../

Answer 5

i have one short hand command

cp */* .

this will copy all subfolders content on level up of course you can use move

mv */* .

or assign new distenation

cp */* /destination 

Answer 6

If you get the "Argument list too long" error by using mv * ../ I suggest doing this instead:

find . -name '*.*' -exec mv {} ../ \;

• find: search a folder
• -name: match a desired criteria
• -exec: run the command that follows
• {}: insert the filename found
• \;: mark the end of the exec command

Answer 7

The question doesn't specify what shell, so here's a zsh variant:

mv myfolder/*(D) .

(D) ensures both dot and non-dot files are included, but, crucially, not the . and .. objects. It's equivalent to kenorb's dotglob solution.

Answer 8

I think surely the best answer is:

mv myfolder/mysubfolder .

Occasaionally you have the problem that both folders have the same name

mv myfolder myfolder.old 
mv myfolder.old/myfolder . 
rmdir myfolder.old

Answer 9

for those of you on a shared server you'd have to use something like this

To move the files

mv -v ~/public_html/public_html/* ~/public_html/

To copy the files

cp -a ~/public_html/public_html/* ~/public_html/