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LN(1) User Commands LN(1) 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 direc- tory. 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 di- rectory -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 -L. AUTHOR Written by Mike Parker and David MacKenzie. REPORTING BUGS Report bugs to: bug-coreutils@gnu.org GNU coreutils home page: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/> General help using GNU software: <https://www.gnu.org/gethelp/> Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/> COPYRIGHT Copyright (C) 2025 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. SEE ALSO link(2), symlink(2) Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/ln> or available locally via: info '(coreutils) ln invocation' GNU coreutils 9.9 November 2025 LN(1)
NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | AUTHOR | REPORTING BUGS | COPYRIGHT | SEE ALSO
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