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LN(1)			    General Commands Manual			 LN(1)

NAME
       ln, link	-- link	files

SYNOPSIS
       ln [-L |	-P | -s	[-F]] [-f | -iw] [-hnv]	source_file [target_file]
       ln [-L |	-P | -s	[-F]] [-f | -iw] [-hnv]	source_file ...	target_dir
       link source_file	target_file

DESCRIPTION
       The ln utility creates a	new directory entry (linked file) for the file
       name  specified	by  target_file.  The target_file will be created with
       the same	file modes as the source_file.	It is useful  for  maintaining
       multiple	copies of a file in many places	at once	without	using up stor-
       age  for	 the  "copies";	instead, a link	"points" to the	original copy.
       There are two types of links; hard links	and  symbolic  links.	How  a
       link  "points"  to  a file is one of the	differences between a hard and
       symbolic	link.

       The options are as follows:

       -F    If	the target file	already	exists and is a	directory, then	remove
	     it	so that	the link may occur.  The -F option should be used with
	     either -f or -i options.  If neither -f nor -i is	specified,  -f
	     is	implied.  The -F option	is a no-op unless -s is	specified.

       -L    When  creating a hard link	to a symbolic link, create a hard link
	     to	the target of the symbolic link.  This is the  default.	  This
	     option cancels the	-P option.

       -P    When  creating a hard link	to a symbolic link, create a hard link
	     to	the symbolic link itself.  This	option cancels the -L option.

       -f    If	the target file	already	exists,	then unlink  it	 so  that  the
	     link  may occur.  (The -f option overrides	any previous -i	and -w
	     options.)

       -h    If	the target_file	or target_dir is a symbolic link, do not  fol-
	     low  it.	This  is  most useful with the -f option, to replace a
	     symlink which may point to	a directory.

       -i    Cause ln to write a prompt	to standard error if the  target  file
	     exists.   If the response from the	standard input begins with the
	     character `y' or `Y', then	unlink the target  file	 so  that  the
	     link may occur.  Otherwise, do not	attempt	the link.  (The	-i op-
	     tion overrides any	previous -f options.)

       -n    Same as -h, for compatibility with	other ln implementations.

       -s    Create a symbolic link.

       -v    Cause ln to be verbose, showing files as they are processed.

       -w    Warn if the source	of a symbolic link does	not currently exist.

       By  default,  ln	 makes hard links.  A hard link	to a file is indistin-
       guishable from the original directory entry; any	changes	to a file  are
       effectively independent of the name used	to reference the file.	Direc-
       tories may not be hardlinked, and hard links may	not span file systems.

       A  symbolic  link  contains the name of the file	to which it is linked.
       The referenced file is used when	an open(2) operation is	 performed  on
       the link.  A stat(2) on a symbolic link will return the linked-to file;
       an  lstat(2)  must  be  done to obtain information about	the link.  The
       readlink(2) call	may be used to read the	contents of a  symbolic	 link.
       Symbolic	links may span file systems and	may refer to directories.

       Given  one  or  two  arguments,	ln  creates a link to an existing file
       source_file.   If  target_file  is  given,  the	link  has  that	 name;
       target_file  may	also be	a directory in which to	place the link;	other-
       wise it is placed in the	current	directory.  If only the	 directory  is
       specified, the link will	be made	to the last component of source_file.

       Given  more than	two arguments, ln makes	links in target_dir to all the
       named source files.  The	links made will	have  the  same	 name  as  the
       files being linked to.

       When  the utility is called as link, exactly two	arguments must be sup-
       plied, neither of which may specify a directory.	  No  options  may  be
       supplied	in this	simple mode of operation, which	performs a link(2) op-
       eration using the two passed arguments.

EXAMPLES
       Create a	symbolic link named /home/src and point	it to /usr/src:

	     # ln -s /usr/src /home/src

       Hard link /usr/local/bin/fooprog	to file	/usr/local/bin/fooprog-1.0:

	     # ln /usr/local/bin/fooprog-1.0 /usr/local/bin/fooprog

       As an exercise, try the following commands:

	     # ls -i /bin/[
	     11553 /bin/[
	     # ls -i /bin/test
	     11553 /bin/test

       Note  that  both	 files	have the same inode; that is, /bin/[ is	essen-
       tially an alias for the test(1) command.	  This	hard  link  exists  so
       test(1)	may be invoked from shell scripts, for example,	using the if [
       ] construct.

       In the next example, the	second call to ln removes the original foo and
       creates a replacement pointing to baz:

	     # mkdir bar baz
	     # ln -s bar foo
	     # ln -shf baz foo

       Without the -h option, this would instead leave foo pointing to bar and
       inside foo create a new symlink baz pointing to itself.	 This  results
       from directory-walking.

       An  easy	rule to	remember is that the argument order for	ln is the same
       as for cp(1): The first argument	needs to exist,	the second one is cre-
       ated.

COMPATIBILITY
       The -h, -i, -n, -v and -w options are non-standard  and	their  use  in
       scripts is not recommended.  They are provided solely for compatibility
       with other ln implementations.

       The -F option is	a FreeBSD extension and	should not be used in portable
       scripts.

SEE ALSO
       link(2),	lstat(2), readlink(2), stat(2),	symlink(2), symlink(7)

STANDARDS
       The ln utility conforms to IEEE Std 1003.2-1992 ("POSIX.2").

       The  simplified	link  command conforms to Version 2 of the Single UNIX
       Specification ("SUSv2").

HISTORY
       An ln command appeared in Version 1 AT&T	UNIX.

FreeBSD	13.2			 June 12, 2017				 LN(1)

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | EXAMPLES | COMPATIBILITY | SEE ALSO | STANDARDS | HISTORY

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