Ln (Unix)

A link allows more than one path to refer to the same file. A hard link is a directory entry that refers to a file's inode (an internal reference). A file can have multiple hard links each referring to the same inode. A hard link can only refer to an object on the same file system. A symbolic link refers to another file by its path (a symbolic reference). When encountered during pathname resolution, modify the pathname resolution to be taken to the location which the symbolic link contains. The content of a symbolic link is the target path, which can also be examined via the command. A symbolic link may specify a path that does not refer to an existing file. Resolving such a symbolic link will fail until a file is created at its specified path. Also, a symbolic link to an existing file will fail to resolve if the file is moved. ==Use ==

Per the Single Unix Specification, the command is specified in the Shell and Utilities (XCU) document. POSIX includes a similar specification. If neither target file nor target directory are specified, links are created in the current working directory. Options The specification indicates command line options that must be supported: • (force) Clobbers an existing file if the output path specifies an existing file • If a source operand specifies a symbolic link, create a hard link to the link's target file • If a source operand specifies a symbolic link, create a hard link to the symbolic link file • Create symbolic links instead of hard links; causes and to be silently ignored If more than one of the mutually-exclusive options and is specified, the last option specified determines the resulting behavior. If the option is not specified and neither a nor a option is specified, the implementation defines which of the and options is used by default. Single file invocation The command creates a new link to the path indicated by , stored at the path indicated by . The syntax is as follows: ln [-fs] [-L|-P] source target Multiple file invocation The command creates a new link to each file specified by the operands, stored in an existing directory indicated by . ln [-fs] [-L|-P] source_1 source_2 ... target_dir ==Examples==

The following creates a hard link to file foo called bar. ln foo bar The following creates a symbolic link to file foo called bar. ln -s foo bar ==See also==