---
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"
---
# 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.
```
rclone move source:path dest:path [flags]
```
## Options
```
--create-empty-src-dirs Create empty source dirs on destination after move
--delete-empty-src-dirs Delete empty source dirs after move
-h, --help help for move
```
## 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 stringArray Include additional comma separated server-side paths during comparison
--copy-dest stringArray Implies --compare-dest but also copies files from paths into destination
--cutoff-mode HARD|SOFT|CAUTIOUS Mode to stop transfers when reaching the max transfer limit HARD|SOFT|CAUTIOUS (default HARD)
--ignore-case-sync Ignore case when synchronizing
--ignore-checksum Skip post copy check of checksums
--ignore-existing Skip all files that exist on destination
--ignore-size Ignore size when skipping use modtime or checksum
-I, --ignore-times Don't skip items that match size and time - transfer all unconditionally
--immutable Do not modify files, fail if existing files have been modified
--inplace Download directly to destination file instead of atomic download to temp/rename
--max-backlog int Maximum number of objects in sync or check backlog (default 10000)
--max-duration Duration Maximum duration rclone will transfer data for (default 0s)
--max-transfer SizeSuffix Maximum size of data to transfer (default off)
-M, --metadata If set, preserve metadata when copying objects
--modify-window Duration Max time diff to be considered the same (default 1ns)
--multi-thread-chunk-size SizeSuffix Chunk size for multi-thread downloads / uploads, if not set by filesystem (default 64Mi)
--multi-thread-cutoff SizeSuffix Use multi-thread downloads for files above this size (default 256Mi)
--multi-thread-streams int Number of streams to use for multi-thread downloads (default 4)
--multi-thread-write-buffer-size SizeSuffix In memory buffer size for writing when in multi-thread mode (default 128Ki)
--no-check-dest Don't check the destination, copy regardless
--no-traverse Don't traverse destination file system on copy
--no-update-dir-modtime Don't update directory modification times
--no-update-modtime Don't update destination modtime if files identical
--order-by string Instructions on how to order the transfers, e.g. 'size,descending'
--partial-suffix string Add partial-suffix to temporary file name when --inplace is not used (default ".partial")
--refresh-times Refresh the modtime of remote files
--server-side-across-configs Allow server-side operations (e.g. copy) to work across different configs
--size-only Skip based on size only, not modtime or checksum
--streaming-upload-cutoff SizeSuffix Cutoff for switching to chunked upload if file size is unknown, upload starts after reaching cutoff or when file ends (default 100Ki)
-u, --update Skip files that are newer on the destination
```
## Important Options
Important flags useful for most commands.
```
-n, --dry-run Do a trial run with no permanent changes
-i, --interactive Enable interactive mode
-v, --verbose count Print lots more stuff (repeat for more)
```
## Filter Options
Flags for filtering directory listings.
```
--delete-excluded Delete files on dest excluded from sync
--exclude stringArray Exclude files matching pattern
--exclude-from stringArray Read file exclude patterns from file (use - to read from stdin)
--exclude-if-present stringArray Exclude directories if filename is present
--files-from stringArray Read list of source-file names from file (use - to read from stdin)
--files-from-raw stringArray Read list of source-file names from file without any processing of lines (use - to read from stdin)
-f, --filter stringArray Add a file filtering rule
--filter-from stringArray Read file filtering patterns from a file (use - to read from stdin)
--ignore-case Ignore case in filters (case insensitive)
--include stringArray Include files matching pattern
--include-from stringArray Read file include patterns from file (use - to read from stdin)
--max-age Duration Only transfer files younger than this in s or suffix ms|s|m|h|d|w|M|y (default off)
--max-depth int If set limits the recursion depth to this (default -1)
--max-size SizeSuffix Only transfer files smaller than this in KiB or suffix B|K|M|G|T|P (default off)
--metadata-exclude stringArray Exclude metadatas matching pattern
--metadata-exclude-from stringArray Read metadata exclude patterns from file (use - to read from stdin)
--metadata-filter stringArray Add a metadata filtering rule
--metadata-filter-from stringArray Read metadata filtering patterns from a file (use - to read from stdin)
--metadata-include stringArray Include metadatas matching pattern
--metadata-include-from stringArray Read metadata include patterns from file (use - to read from stdin)
--min-age Duration Only transfer files older than this in s or suffix ms|s|m|h|d|w|M|y (default off)
--min-size SizeSuffix Only transfer files bigger than this in KiB or suffix B|K|M|G|T|P (default off)
```
## Listing Options
Flags for listing directories.
```
--default-time Time Time to show if modtime is unknown for files and directories (default 2000-01-01T00:00:00Z)
--fast-list Use recursive list if available; uses more memory but fewer transactions
```
See the [global flags page](/flags/) for global options not listed here.
# SEE ALSO
* [rclone](/commands/rclone/) - Show help for rclone commands, flags and backends.