can1357/oh-my-pi · error

cannot stat {0}: No such file or directory

Error message

cannot stat {0}: No such file or directory

What it means

GNU-compatible `mv` error (`MvError::NoSuchFile`, crates/pi-builtins/src/mv.rs:53). Raised when `symlink_metadata` fails on a source operand: the file does not exist. With one source+target (`handle_two_paths`) the source is quoted in the message; with multiple sources (`move_files_into_dir`) the error is shown and the remaining files are still processed.

Source

Thrown at crates/pi-builtins/src/mv.rs:53

	backup_control::{self, BackupMode, source_is_target_backup},
	display::Quotable,
	fs::{
		MissingHandling, ResolveMode, are_hardlinks_or_one_way_symlink_to_same_file,
		are_hardlinks_to_same_file, canonicalize, path_ends_with_terminator,
	},
	update_control::{self, UpdateMode},
};

use crate::host::{Host, Utility, format_usage, matches_parser, util};
#[cfg(unix)]
use self::hardlink::{
	HardlinkGroupScanner, HardlinkOptions, HardlinkTracker, create_hardlink_context,
	with_optional_hardlink_context,
};

#[derive(Debug, Error)]
enum MvError {
	#[error("cannot stat {0}: No such file or directory")]
	NoSuchFile(String),
	#[error("cannot stat {0}: Not a directory")]
	CannotStatNotADirectory(String),
	#[error("{0} and {1} are the same file")]
	SameFile(String, String),
	#[error("cannot move {0} to a subdirectory of itself, {1}")]
	SelfTargetSubdirectory(String, String),
	#[error("cannot overwrite directory {0} with non-directory")]
	DirectoryToNonDirectory(String),
	#[error("cannot overwrite non-directory {1} with directory {0}")]
	NonDirectoryToDirectory(String, String),
	#[error("target {0}: Not a directory")]
	NotADirectory(String),
	#[error("target directory {0}: Not a directory")]
	TargetNotADirectory(String),
	#[error("failed to access {0}: Not a directory")]
	FailedToAccessNotADirectory(String),
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 9690622007)

Solutions

1. Verify the source path exists before moving: `test -e "$src" && mv "$src" "$dst"` or `mv "$src" "$dst" 2>/dev/null || echo missing`.
2. Fix typos and check filename casing (case-sensitive filesystems).
3. Print/`set -x` the expanded path to catch unset or mis-joined variables.
4. For multi-source moves, list files explicitly or use a glob that matches at least one file so only existing paths are passed.

Example fix

# before
mv "$LOG_DIR/app.log" archive/
# after
if [ -e "$LOG_DIR/app.log" ]; then mv "$LOG_DIR/app.log" archive/; else echo "app.log missing" >&2; fi

[ -e "$src" ] || { echo "mv: cannot stat '$src': No such file or directory" >&2; exit 1; }

mv "$src" "$dst" || { echo "move of $src failed" >&2; exit 1; }  # check exit status; message already names the missing file

When it happens

Trigger: `mv nonexistent.txt dest/`; a multi-file `mv a.txt b.txt target/` where one source is missing (each missing source logs this error and the move continues); a source path whose parent directory does not exist (unless the source ends with a trailing `/`, which yields `CannotStatNotADirectory` instead).

Common situations: Typoed or wrong-case filenames; scripts building paths from variables that were never set; files removed by a prior pipeline step before `mv` runs; relative paths executed from an unexpected working directory.

Related errors

• cannot stat {0}: Not a directory
• {0} and {1} are the same file
• cannot move {0} to a subdirectory of itself, {1}
• cannot overwrite directory {0} with non-directory
• cannot overwrite non-directory {1} with directory {0}

AI-assisted analysis of can1357/oh-my-pi@9690622007 (2026-08-31). Data as JSON: /api/errors/fb88142607b7526d. Report an issue: GitHub.