Name
ln - make links between filesSynopsis
ln [\,OPTION\/]... [\,-T\/] \,TARGET LINK_NAME\/ ln [\,OPTION\/]... \,TARGET\/ ln [\,OPTION\/]... \,TARGET\/... \,DIRECTORY\/ ln [\,OPTION\/]... \,-t DIRECTORY TARGET\/...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.
--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
-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 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:
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
GNU coreutils online help: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/> Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>Copyright
Copyright © 2020 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://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)Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/ln> or available locally via: info \(aq(coreutils) ln invocation\(aq