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The Linux Documentation Project maintains an archive of snaphots of the (English language) core Linux manual pages that are maintained by Michael Kerrisk. Corrections and additions are welcome, but review the "Help Wanted" list, first.

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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.

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

-n, --no-dereference
treat destination that is a symlink to a directory as if it were a normal file

-i, --interactive
prompt whether to remove destinations

-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:

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 bugs to <bug-coreutils@gnu.org>.

Copyright

Copyright © 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc. This is free software. You may redistribute copies of it under the terms of the GNU General Public License <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>. 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 ln

should give you access to the complete manual.

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