Question

As the name implies, the --no-clobber (or -n) flag of the mv command (at least the Gnu version) causes the command to fail if the requested move would have overwritten an existing file.

How can this be emulated in a Windows batch file?

(BTW, the projected batch file is intended to run automatically (i.e. unsupervised), so any solution that entails prompting a human user for permission is out.)

Thanks!

Answer 1

> MOVE /?
Moves files and renames files and directories.

To move one or more files:
MOVE [/Y | /-Y] [drive:][path]filename1[,...] destination

To rename a directory:
MOVE [/Y | /-Y] [drive:][path]dirname1 dirname2

  [drive:][path]filename1 Specifies the location and name of the file
                          or files you want to move.
  destination             Specifies the new location of the file. Destination
                          can consist of a drive letter and colon, a
                          directory name, or a combination. If you are moving
                          only one file, you can also include a filename if
                          you want to rename the file when you move it.
  [drive:][path]dirname1  Specifies the directory you want to rename.
  dirname2                Specifies the new name of the directory.

  /Y                      Suppresses prompting to confirm you want to
                          overwrite an existing destination file.
  /-Y                     Causes prompting to confirm you want to overwrite
                          an existing destination file.

The switch /Y may be present in the COPYCMD environment variable.
This may be overridden with /-Y on the command line.  Default is
to prompt on overwrites unless MOVE command is being executed from
within a batch script.

> ECHO N | MOVE /-Y OLDFILE NEWFILE

Alternatively:

IF NOT EXIST NEWFILE MOVE OLDFILE NEWFILE

Combined with a FOR loop for multiple files.