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. --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 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 sym‐ bolic 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 per‐ mitted 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. GNU coreutils 8.22 November 2016 LN(1)