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I'm looking for a command that allows me to securely move a file or directory.

If it doesn't exist, is my only option to write a shell script that

  1. securely copies the item to the destination
  2. compares source and destination
  3. securely deletes the source
Alex Ixeras
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    What do you mean by "securely" here? What problem are you wanting to solve that regular `cp` or `mv` fails at? – BowlOfRed Sep 29 '17 at 01:31
  • I need to make sure that the original file is mainly securely deleted such as with `srm` after the move, but having a secure copy (using ssh for the data transfer) would improve the solution even more. – Alex Ixeras Sep 29 '17 at 01:39

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I think rsync matches with your desired command. rsync is a fast and extraordinarily versatile file copying tool. For More Info Look Here

Muhammad Usman
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  • I had a look at `rsync`, but it doesn't seem to have an option for *securely* syncing files. Also, AFAIK `rsync` copies (syncs) files, but doesn't really move them as such. – Alex Ixeras Sep 29 '17 at 00:12
  • @AlexIxeras `rsync` often runs inside `ssh`, so it is protected from viewing or modifications over the wire when that happens. With the `--remove-source-files` option, it will delete the source side after the transfer is complete. – BowlOfRed Sep 29 '17 at 02:36
  • @BowlOfRed Ok, so I need to wrap the execution of `rsync` in ssh, but does the `remove-source-files` option also *securely* remove, ie. wipe/overwrite, the source file? – Alex Ixeras Sep 29 '17 at 02:40
  • @AlexIxeras, you don't need to wrap it. The standard method of running it will use ssh if you specify a remote source or remote destination. It simply issues a normal delete. (Not all filesystems will do anything useful if you try to overwrite a file the way `srm` attempts to do it) – BowlOfRed Sep 29 '17 at 02:54
  • @BowlOfRed My initial use case for a "secure move" was to move files locally, but ensuring that the original file gets securely deleted. — I should've clarified the "overwrite": I'm aware that `srm` works differently to a simple overwrite (and most of the time I need to use the `-mz` option). I just needed to word it. – Alex Ixeras Sep 29 '17 at 03:12