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LN(1) 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 destination (name of new link) should not already exist. 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.

make a backup of each existing destination file
like --backup but does not accept an argument
allow the superuser to attempt to hard link directories (note: will probably fail due to system restrictions, even for the superuser)
remove existing destination files
prompt whether to remove destinations
dereference TARGETs that are symbolic links
treat LINK_NAME as a normal file if it is a symbolic link to a directory
make hard links directly to symbolic links
create symbolic links relative to link location
make symbolic links instead of hard links
override the usual backup suffix
specify the DIRECTORY in which to create the links
treat LINK_NAME as a normal file always
print name of each linked file
display this help and exit
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:

never make backups (even if --backup is given)
make numbered backups
numbered if numbered backups exist, simple otherwise
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.

GNU coreutils online help: <http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/> Report ln translation bugs to <http://translationproject.org/team/>

AUTHOR

Written by Mike Parker and David MacKenzie.

COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 2013 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.

November 2020 GNU coreutils 8.22