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.