LN
Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: April 2010
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.
When creating 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
-
make hard links to symbolic link references
- -n, --no-dereference
-
treat destination that is a symlink to a
directory as if it were a normal file
- -P, --physical
-
make hard links directly to symbolic links
- -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
- -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 SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX.
The version control method may be selected via the --backup option or through
the VERSION_CONTROL environment variable. Here are the values:
Using -s ignores -L and -P. Otherwise, the last option specified controls
behavior when the source is a symbolic link, defaulting to -P.
- 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
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/coreutils/>
General help using GNU software: <http://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>
Report ln translation bugs to <http://translationproject.org/team/>
COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2010 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 redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
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.
Index
- NAME
-
- SYNOPSIS
-
- DESCRIPTION
-
- AUTHOR
-
- REPORTING BUGS
-
- COPYRIGHT
-
- SEE ALSO
-
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Time: 07:35:55 GMT, March 26, 2013