NAME

ln − make links

USAGE

ln [ −s ] name1 [ name2 ]
ln name ... directory

DESCRIPTION

Ln creates both hard and symbolic links to files.  A link is a directory entry referring to a file.  The same file (together with its size, all its protection information, etc.) may have several links to it. 

By default, ln generates a hard link, indistinguishable from the original directory entry.  Any changes to a file are effective independent of the name used to reference the file.  Hard links may not span file systems and may not refer to directories. 

The −s option causes ln to create symbolic links.  A symbolic link contains the name of the file to which it is linked.  An open (2) operation on a link uses the referenced file.  A stat (2) on a symbolic link returns the linked-to file; you must do an lstat (2) to obtain information about the link.  The readlink (2) call is useful for reading 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 name1. If name2 is given, the link has that name.  The name2 argument may also be a directory in which to place the link.  Otherwise, it is placed in the current directory.  If only the directory is specified, the link is made to the last component of name1.

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

RELATED INFORMATION

cp (1), mv (1), rm (1), link (2), readlink (2), stat (2), symlink (2).