General Commands Manual: ln

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

       -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

       Report ln bugs to bug-coreutils@gnu.org
       GNU coreutils home page: <http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
       General help using GNU software: <http://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>
       Report ln translation bugs to <http://translationproject.org/team/>

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright © 2012 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 permitted 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.