/rclone_move

title: "rclone move"
description: "Move files from source to dest."
versionIntroduced: v1.19
# autogenerated - DO NOT EDIT, instead edit the source code in cmd/move/ and as part of making a release run "make commanddocs"

> **Official documentation:** [https://rclone.org/commands/rclone_move/](https://rclone.org/commands/rclone_move/)

rclone move

Move files from source to dest.

Synopsis

Moves the contents of the source directory to the destination directory. Rclone will error if the source and destination overlap and the remote does not support a server-side directory move operation.

To move single files, use the [moveto](/commands/rclone_moveto/) command instead.

If no filters are in use and if possible this will server-side move `source:path` into `dest:path`. After this `source:path` will no longer exist.

Otherwise for each file in `source:path` selected by the filters (if any) this will move it into `dest:path`. If possible a server-side move will be used, otherwise it will copy it (server-side if possible) into `dest:path` then delete the original (if no errors on copy) in `source:path`.

If you want to delete empty source directories after move, use the `--delete-empty-src-dirs` flag.

See the [--no-traverse](/docs/#no-traverse) option for controlling whether rclone lists the destination directory or not. Supplying this option when moving a small number of files into a large destination can speed transfers up greatly.

Rclone will sync the modification times of files and directories if the backend supports it. If metadata syncing is required then use the `--metadata` flag.

Note that the modification time and metadata for the root directory will **not** be synced. See <https://github.com/rclone/rclone/issues/7652> for more info.

**Important**: Since this can cause data loss, test first with the `--dry-run` or the `--interactive`/`-i` flag.

**Note**: Use the `-P`/`--progress` flag to view real-time transfer statistics.

Logger Flags

The `--differ`, `--missing-on-dst`, `--missing-on-src`, `--match` and `--error` flags write paths, one per line, to the file name (or stdout if it is `-`) supplied. What they write is described in the help below. For example `--differ` will write all paths which are present on both the source and destination but different.

The `--combined` flag will write a file (or stdout) which contains all file paths with a symbol and then a space and then the path to tell you what happened to it. These are reminiscent of diff files.

• `= path` means path was found in source and destination and was identical
• `- path` means path was missing on the source, so only in the destination
• `+ path` means path was missing on the destination, so only in the source
• `* path` means path was present in source and destination but different.
• `! path` means there was an error reading or hashing the source or dest.

The `--dest-after` flag writes a list file using the same format flags as [`lsf`](/commands/rclone_lsf/#synopsis) (including [customizable options for hash, modtime, etc.](/commands/rclone_lsf/#synopsis)) Conceptually it is similar to rsync's `--itemize-changes`, but not identical -- it should output an accurate list of what will be on the destination after the command is finished.

When the `--no-traverse` flag is set, all logs involving files that exist only on the destination will be incomplete or completely missing.

Note that these logger flags have a few limitations, and certain scenarios are not currently supported:

• `--max-duration` / `CutoffModeHard`
• `--compare-dest` / `--copy-dest`
• server-side moves of an entire dir at once
• High-level retries, because there would be duplicates (use `--retries 1` to disable)
• Possibly some unusual error scenarios

Note also that each file is logged during execution, as opposed to after, so it is most useful as a predictor of what SHOULD happen to each file (which may or may not match what actually DID).

rclone move source:path dest:path [flags]

Options

      --absolute                Put a leading / in front of path names
      --combined string         Make a combined report of changes to this file
      --create-empty-src-dirs   Create empty source dirs on destination after move
      --csv                     Output in CSV format
      --delete-empty-src-dirs   Delete empty source dirs after move
      --dest-after string       Report all files that exist on the dest post-sync
      --differ string           Report all non-matching files to this file
  -d, --dir-slash               Append a slash to directory names (default true)
      --dirs-only               Only list directories
      --error string            Report all files with errors (hashing or reading) to this file
      --files-only              Only list files (default true)
  -F, --format string           Output format - see lsf help for details (default "p")
      --hash h                  Use this hash when h is used in the format MD5|SHA-1|DropboxHash (default "md5")
  -h, --help                    help for move
      --match string            Report all matching files to this file
      --missing-on-dst string   Report all files missing from the destination to this file
      --missing-on-src string   Report all files missing from the source to this file
  -s, --separator string        Separator for the items in the format (default ";")
  -t, --timeformat string       Specify a custom time format - see docs for details (default: 2006-01-02 15:04:05)

Options shared with other commands are described next. See the [global flags page](/flags/) for global options not listed here.

Copy Options

Flags for anything which can copy a file

      --check-first                                 Do all the checks before starting transfers
  -c, --checksum                                    Check for changes with size & checksum (if available, or fallback to size only)
      --compare-dest stringA