ln
link files
TLDR
Create a symbolic link to a file or directory
Overwrite an existing symbolic link to point to a different file
Create a hard link to a file
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 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
-
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 -P.
REPORTING BUGS
GNU coreutils online help:
<https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
Report any translation bugs to
<https://translationproject.org/team/>
COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2022 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'
AUTHOR
Written by Mike Parker and David MacKenzie.