uutils/coreutils · error · std::io::Error

DirectoryNotEmpty

DirectoryNotEmpty

Error message

Directory not empty

What it means

Error "Directory not empty" thrown in uutils/coreutils.

Source

Thrown at src/uu/mv/src/mv.rs:864

            // For backup renames, we don't need to track hardlinks as we're just moving the existing file
            rename_with_fallback(to, backup_path, display_manager, false, None, None)?;
        }
    }

    // "to" may no longer exist if it was backed up
    // `symlink_metadata` does not follow symlinks, so a symlink to a directory
    // is not reported as a directory, as with the previous
    // `to.exists() && to.is_dir() && !to.is_symlink()` check
    if to
        .symlink_metadata()
        .is_ok_and(|metadata| metadata.is_dir())
    {
        // normalize behavior between *nix and windows
        if from.is_dir() {
            if is_empty_dir(to) {
                fs::remove_dir(to)?;
            } else {
                return Err(io::Error::new(
                    io::ErrorKind::DirectoryNotEmpty,
                    translate!("mv-error-directory-not-empty"),
                ));
            }
        }
    }

    #[cfg(unix)]
    {
        rename_with_fallback(
            from,
            to,
            display_manager,
            opts.verbose,
            hardlink_tracker,
            hardlink_scanner,
        )?;
    }

View on GitHub (pinned to 85295bbf78)

Solutions

1. Move or delete the contents of the destination directory first, then retry the move.
2. Use mv -T or rename into a non-conflicting destination name.

When it happens

Trigger: Occurs when mv tries to replace a non-empty directory with a rename, which the filesystem disallows (ENOTEMPTY).

Common situations: Moving a directory onto an existing directory that still contains files, without merging/removing the destination first.

AI-assisted analysis of uutils/coreutils@85295bbf78 (2026-08-19). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ca6bf551cab523bd. Report an issue: GitHub.