Re: mv switch order bug

[Jim Meyering]

"Gary Argraves" <address@hidden> wrote:
> Hello,
>    There seems to be a 'mv' bug where it prefers the -i to follow the --reply=
> no option switch.My system is RedHat Linux ver 9.0.
>    mv -vi --reply=no f1 f2      # will incorrectly write over f2
>    however,
>    mv -v --reply=no -i f1 f2    # will correctly NOT write over f2

Thanks for the report, but this is not a bug.

It may appear misleading, but notice that the documentation
says -i is equivalent to --reply=query.

That means your first command is equivalent to

  mv -v --reply=query --reply=no f1 f2

and since the latter --reply option takes precedence
(canceling the -i), mv performs the requested rename.