Section 1 · User commands

ln.1

Package: coreutils-common

LN

NAME
SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
AUTHOR
REPORTING BUGS
COPYRIGHT
SEE ALSO

NAME

ln − make links between files

SYNOPSIS

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 (this 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

with −s, create 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 © 2024 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.