I am new to linux, and have only been using it for a month now. Today I issued the following command: mv /* /var/www because I was trying to move all the files in the folder to the web root. I know now that I was supposed to add a period before /* to make it ./*.

UGH! Is there any way to revert this? I can't even use simple commands like ls because it gives me the following error: bash: /bin/ls: No such file or directory

I'm hoping I can at least recover my files! I absolutely HATE myself at this very moment. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

you can mv back them. usually root dir has this folders; /bin /sbin /usr /var /media /mnt /tmp /dev /lib (/lib64) /home /opt /root /boot /etc /lost+found /proc /sys

if you can rum mv (understandable), boot with install disk

i guess the very files you need will now be located in /var/www/home/%YOUR_USERNAME%, first recover them, then try to get back all other stuff. first things first anyway, begin with important data.
mv should be in /var/www/bin/mv now.

If you can't use and of the standard commands in the usual manner, try calling commands as follows:Replace ls with whichever command you need to use (e.g. cp). Arguments follow the command as normal. If you can run those commands OK, then you can start copying files back to where they ought to be. Make sure you preserve permissions when you copy the files over.

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OK, so when i try to access mv it says 'bash: bin/mv: No such file or directory'.

I went to /var/www and then tried to issue the command 'bin/mv * /*' to no avail.

Any thoughts on why that may be the case?

Also. is there a way to back up my files? I can't use the mv command anywhere it seems!

Thanks in advance...really appreciate the comments.

If you can't get to any of the commands you need you might try:

Boot from a Live CD, then mount the partition containing the moved items (if the live CD doesn't auto mount it for you). Then you can move the files from there without a problem.

This of course presumes that you have (or can make) a Live CD.

Good Luck

First, I am not sure what happens when you try to move everything in / to a folder that is inside of /---I would have thought that it would have given an error message.

I would recommend NOT attempting to sort things while operating within that same system. There are a minimum of two choices:
1. Run from a Linux Live CD
2. Put the hard drive in another computer and access it from there.

In either case, just try to recover your data---then simply re-install the OS.

If your data is really valuable, then clone the disk before doing anything else.

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a_cheung,

This could help:

1) get a bootable live cd/dvd (knoppix for example)
2) boot from cd/dvd
3) make a directory where you will mount your hard drive (file system), ie mkdir /mnt/myfiles
4) mount the drive, mount -t auto /dev/sda1 /mnt/myfiles {where sda1 is your partition, you can look this up with fdisk -l, if you are using more partitions, then mount them accordingly... look at /etc/fstab once you get it accessible}

5) now go there, cd /mnt/myfiles/var and use mv to move folders back. see what ozanbaba said.

OR take the hard drive and plug it in another computer/usb/... might get you somewhere.

pixellany's wise words...

You might heed the suggestion to clone your disk before you start.

As an alternative to cloning, you could use a live-cd to copy your important content files to another storage device. If nothing goes well, you can always begin with a new installation, a bother but not a catastrophe, and copy your files back to /home.

I noted that you did not mention that back-up copy of your system, the one that we all should always make, but don't.

PS Do not hate your self. We all make mistakes :-) just be persistent.

and extra careful when running as root. use sudo as much as possible and
when in root shell (with su or directing logining as root), think twise before running a command.

i did very stupid things over the years (like not install a kernel, installing libX and friends but not the X itself or rm -rf important files.)

Depending on your distro, you may be able to use the install media instead of getting a LiveCD. Just boot off it, then enter

linux rescue

at the cmd line & follow the same instructions above.