movefile

Move or rename file or folder

Syntax

movefile source

movefile source destination

movefile source destination f

movefile(source,destination,MoveLinkBehavior=slbehavior)

status = movefile(___)

[status,msg] = movefile(___)

[status,msg,msgID] = movefile(___)

Description

movefile source moves the file or folder source to the current folder. movefile does not preserve the archive attribute of source.

movefile source destination moves source to the file or folder destination. If source and destination are in the same location, then movefile renames source to destination. To rename a file or folder when moving it, make destination a different name from source and specify only one file or folder for source.

If source is a folder, then destination must be a folder. If source is a folder or is capable of specifying multiple files and destination does not exist, then movefile creates destination.

movefile source destination f performs the move, even when destination is not writable. The state of the read/write attribute for destination does not change. This syntax overwrites read-only files.

movefile(source,destination,MoveLinkBehavior=slbehavior) specifies whether to move a symbolic link or its target. (since R2024b)

status = movefile(___) moves the specified file or folder and returns a status of 1 if the operation is successful. Otherwise, movefile returns 0. You can use this syntax with any of the input argument combinations in the previous syntaxes.

[status,msg] = movefile(___) also returns the message text for any warning or error that occurs.

[status,msg,msgID] = movefile(___) also returns the message ID for any warning or error that occurs.

Examples

Move Files to Current Folder

Move files and folders to the current folder by omitting the destination input.

Create two folders: the first, myfiles, containing the file myfile1.m, and the second, myotherfiles, containing the file myfile2.m.

mkdir myfiles
movefile myfile1.m myfiles
mkdir myotherfiles
movefile myfile2.m myotherfiles

Move myfile1.m to the current folder. Since a destination is not specified, MATLAB® assumes the destination is the current folder.

movefile myfiles/myfile1.m

Set the current folder to myfiles. Move myotherfiles and its contents to the current folder.

cd myfiles
movefile ../myotherfiles

Move Files and Folders to New Folder

Move files and subfolders whose names begin with my from the current folder to the folder newFolder, where newFolder previously does not exist.

movefile my* newFolder

Rename Folder

Create the folder myoldfolder, and then rename it to mynewfolder.

mkdir myoldfolder
movefile myoldfolder mynewfolder

Move File to Read-Only Folder

Move the file myfile1.m from the current folder to the read-only folder restricted.

Create the read-only folder restricted.

mkdir restricted
fileattrib restricted -w

Move the file myfile1.m. A status of 0 shows the copy was unsuccessful.

status = movefile('myfile1.m','restricted');
status

status = logical
   0

Move the file myfile1.m using the 'f' option to override the read-only status of the destination folder. A status of 1 and an empty message and messageID confirm the copy was successful.

[status,message,messageId] = movefile('myfile1.m','restricted','f');
status

status = logical
   1

message

message =

  0x0 empty char array

messageId

messageId =

  0x0 empty char array

Input Arguments

source — File or folder to move

character vector | string scalar

File or folder to move, specified as a character vector or string scalar. To move multiple files or folders, use wildcards (*). When moving multiple files or folders, movefile moves only the files and folders that can be moved.

source can be an absolute or relative path when moving local files or folders. However, to move files and folders at a remote location, source must contain a full path specified as a uniform resource locator (URL). For more information, see Work with Remote Data.

Note

If source is a string, enclose all the inputs in parentheses. For example, movefile("myfile.m","newfolder").

destination — File or folder destination

character vector | string scalar

File or folder destination, specified as a character vector or string scalar. destination cannot include wildcards (*).

If destination is local, it can be specified as an absolute or relative path. If destination is remote, it must contain a full path specified as a URL. For more information, see Work with Remote Data.

Note

If destination is a string, enclose all the inputs in parentheses. For example, movefile("myfile.m","newfolder").

slbehavior — Symbolic link behavior

"preserve" (default) | "resolve"

Since R2024b

Symbolic link behavior, specified as one of these values:

• "preserve" – Move the symbolic link and preserve it as a symbolic link at the destination. The target of the symbolic link remains the same.

• "resolve" – Move the target of the symbolic link.

Output Arguments

status — Move status

0 | 1

Move status, indicating if the attempt to move the file or folder is successful, returned as 0 or 1. If the attempt is successful, the value of status is 1. Otherwise, the value is 0.

Data Types: logical

msg — Error message

character vector

Error message, returned as a character vector. If an error or warning occurs, msg contains the message text of the error or warning. Otherwise, msg is empty, ''.

msgID — Error message identifier

character vector

Error message identifier, returned as a character vector. If an error or warning occurs, msgID contains the message identifier of the error or warning. Otherwise, msgID is empty, ''.

Extended Capabilities

C/C++ Code Generation

Generate C and C++ code using MATLAB® Coder™.

Usage notes and limitations:

• The movefile function can move files only to an empty directory, not to one that contains files.

• The movefile function does not support wildcard operations or URLs as input.

• Code generated from MATLAB^® might behave differently from its execution within MATLAB.

  In such instances, file handling in the generated code is similar to the MoveFileExA function on Windows^® platforms or the rename function on UNIX^® systems in the C language.

Thread-Based Environment
Run code in the background using MATLAB® backgroundPool or accelerate code with Parallel Computing Toolbox™ ThreadPool.

Version History

Introduced before R2006a

R2024b: Use symbolic links to manipulate files and folders

You can move files and folders using symbolic links. When you specify a symbolic link as the source, you can control whether to move the symbolic link itself or move its target.

R2020a: Wildcard expression *.* on UNIX platforms matches only files that have an extension

Starting in R2020a, on UNIX platforms, the wildcard expression *.* no longer matches folders or files without an extension. In previous releases, the expression matches folders or files regardless of extension, including files without an extension. This change of behavior does not apply to Microsoft^® Windows platforms.