This is an experimental technology
Check the Browser compatibility table carefully before using this in production.



The FileSystemEntry interface's method moveTo() moves the file specified by the entry to a new location on the file system, or renames the file if the destination directory is the same as the source. There are some typical restrictions on what you can do:

  • A directory can't be moved into itself.
  • An entry can't be moved into its parent directory unless you specify a new name. Specifying a new name lets moveTo() double as a rename operation.
  • When moving a directory, the move is always recursive; you can't leave out subfolders.
  • You can't move a file such that it replaces an existing directory, and you can't move a directory such that it replaces an existing file. However, a file can replace a file and a directory can replace a directory.
  • You can only overwrite a directory if it's empty.


FileSystemEntry.moveTo(newParent[, newName][, successCallback][, errorCallback]);


A FileSystemDirectoryEntry object specifying the destination directory for the move operation.
newName Optional
If this parameter is provided, the entry is renamed to have this string as its new file or directory name.
successCallback Optional
A function which is called when the move operation is successfully completed. Receives a single input parameter: a FileSystemEntry based object providing the moved item's new details.
errorCallback Optional
An optional callback which is executed if an error occurs while moving the items. There's a single parameter: a FileError describing what went wrong.

Return value



The requested operation involves an impossible change, such as moving a directory inside itself or one of its own child directories, or copying an item within the same directory without renaming it.
The operation exceeded the user's storage quota, or there isn't enough storage space left to complete the operation.


This example shows how a temporary log file might be moved into a more permanent "log" directory when it exceeds a megabyte in size.

workingDirectory.getFile("tmp/log.txt", {}, function(fileEntry) {
  fileEntry.getMetadata(function(metadata) {
    if (metadata.size > 1048576) {
      workingDirectory.getDirectory("log", {}, function(dirEntry) {
      }, handleError);
}, handleError);

Browser compatibility

BCD tables only load in the browser

See also