ln
(1g)
Name
ln - make links between files
Synopsis
ln [OPTION]... [-T] TARGET LINK_NAME (1st form)
ln [OPTION]... TARGET (2nd form)
ln [OPTION]... TARGET... DIRECTORY (3rd form)
ln [OPTION]... -t DIRECTORY TARGET... (4th form)
Description
User Commands LN(1)
NAME
ln - make links between files
SYNOPSIS
ln [OPTION]... [-T] TARGET LINK_NAME (1st form)
ln [OPTION]... TARGET (2nd form)
ln [OPTION]... TARGET... DIRECTORY (3rd form)
ln [OPTION]... -t DIRECTORY TARGET... (4th form)
DESCRIPTION
In the 1st form, create a link to TARGET with the name
LINK_NAME. In the 2nd form, create a link to TARGET in the
current directory. In the 3rd and 4th forms, create links
to each TARGET in DIRECTORY. Create hard links by default,
symbolic links with --symbolic. By default, each destina-
tion (name of new link) should not already exist. When cre-
ating hard links, each TARGET must exist. Symbolic links
can hold arbitrary text; if later resolved, a relative link
is interpreted in relation to its parent directory.
Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short
options too.
--backup[=CONTROL]
make a backup of each existing destination file
-b like --backup but does not accept an argument
-d, -F, --directory
allow the superuser to attempt to hard link directories
(note: will probably fail due to system restrictions,
even for the superuser)
-f, --force
remove existing destination files
-i, --interactive
prompt whether to remove destinations
-L, --logical
dereference TARGETs that are symbolic links
-n, --no-dereference
treat LINK_NAME as a normal file if it is a symbolic
link to a directory
-P, --physical
make hard links directly to symbolic links
-r, --relative
create symbolic links relative to link location
GNU coreutils 8.16 Last change: March 2012 1
User Commands LN(1)
-s, --symbolic
make symbolic links instead of hard links
-S, --suffix=SUFFIX
override the usual backup suffix
-t, --target-directory=DIRECTORY
specify the DIRECTORY in which to create the links
-T, --no-target-directory
treat LINK_NAME as a normal file always
-v, --verbose
print name of each linked file
--help
display this help and exit
--version
output version information and exit
The backup suffix is '~', unless set with --suffix or SIM-
PLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX. The version control method may be
selected via the --backup option or through the VERSION_CON-
TROL environment variable. Here are the values:
none, off
never make backups (even if --backup is given)
numbered, t
make numbered backups
existing, nil
numbered if numbered backups exist, simple otherwise
simple, never
always make simple backups
Using -s ignores -L and -P. Otherwise, the last option
specified controls behavior when a TARGET is a symbolic
link, defaulting to -P.
AUTHOR
Written by Mike Parker and David MacKenzie.
REPORTING BUGS
Report ln bugs to bug-coreutils@gnu.org
GNU coreutils home page: <http://www.gnu.org/software/core-
utils/>
General help using GNU software: <http://www.gnu.org/geth-
elp/>
Report ln translation bugs to
GNU coreutils 8.16 Last change: March 2012 2
User Commands LN(1)
<http://translationproject.org/team/>
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License
GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later
<http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redis-
tribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted
by law.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following
attributes:
+---------------+--------------------+
|ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+---------------+--------------------+
|Availability | file/gnu-coreutils |
+---------------+--------------------+
|Stability | Uncommitted |
+---------------+--------------------+
SEE ALSO
link(2), symlink(2)
The full documentation for ln is maintained as a Texinfo
manual. If the info and ln programs are properly installed
at your site, the command
info coreutils 'ln invocation'
should give you access to the complete manual.
NOTES
This software was built from source available at
https://java.net/projects/solaris-userland. The original
community source was downloaded from
http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/coreutils/coreutils-8.16.tar.xz
Further information about this software can be found on the
open source community website at http://www.gnu.org/soft-
ware/coreutils/.
GNU coreutils 8.16 Last change: March 2012 3