ln(1)
ln --
link files
Synopsis
ln
-s [-f] [-n]
file1 [file2 ...] target
Description
The ln command links filen to target
by creating a directory entry that refers to target.
By using ln with one or more file names,
the user may create one or more links to target.
The ln command may be used to create
both hard links and symbolic links;
by default it creates hard links.
A hard link to a file is indistinguishable from
the original directory entry.
Any changes to a file are effective independent of the
name used to reference the file.
Hard links may not span file systems
and may not refer to directories.
Without the -s option, ln is used to create hard links.
filen is linked to target.
If target is a directory,
another file named filen
is created in target and linked to the original filen.
If target is a file that already exists, its contents
are overwritten.
There are three options to ln.
If multiple options are specified, the
one with the highest priority is used and the remainder are ignored.
The options, in descending order of priority, are:
- -s
-
ln will create a symbolic link.
A symbolic link contains the name of the file to which it is linked.
Symbolic links may span file systems and may refer to directories.
If the linkname exists, then do not overwrite the contents of the file.
A symbolic link's permissions are always set to read, write, and execute
permission for owner, group, and world (777).
- -f
-
ln will link files without generating any errors,
even if the mode of the file target forbids writing.
Note, however, that if target refers to a directory that has no
write permissions, errors will still occur.
- -n
-
If the linkname is an existing file,
do not overwrite the contents of the file.
The
-f
option overrides this option.
If the -s option is used with two arguments,
target may be an existing directory or a non-existent file.
If target already exists and is not a directory,
an error is returned.
filen may be any path name and need not exist.
If it exists, it may be
a file or directory and may reside on a different
file system from target.
If target is an existing directory,
a file is created in directory target whose name is
filen or the last component of filen.
This file is a symbolic link that references filen.
If target does not exist, a file with the
name target is created
and it is a symbolic link that references filen.
If the -s option is used with more than two arguments,
target must be an existing directory or an error will be returned.
For each filen,
a file is created in target whose name is filen or its last
component;
each new filen is a symbolic link to the original filen.
The files and target may reside on different file systems.
Files
- /usr/lib/locale/locale/LC_MESSAGES/uxcore.abi
-
language-specific message file
(see LANG on
environ(5)).
References
chmod(1),
cp(1),
link(2),
mv(1),
readlink(2),
rm(1),
stat(2),
symlink(2)
Notices
Doing operations that involve .. (such as cd ..) in a
directory that is symbolically linked will reference the
original directory not the target.
The -s option does not use the current working directory.
In the command
ln -s path target,
path is taken literally without
being evaluated against the current working directory.
If the POSIX2 environment variable is set and exported, the behavior
of ln with no options is the same as the current ln -n.
The -n option is for backward compatibility only.
It should not be used, since it may be removed in future releases.
Use the POSIX2 environment variable to get POSIX.2
behavior that is inconsistent with existing System V behavior.
POSIX2 requires no prompting in case of existing target.
This command has been updated to handle files greater than 2GB.
30 January 1998
© 1998 The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. All rights reserved.