LN(1)                                BSD                                 LN(1)



NAME
     ln - make links

SYNOPSIS
     ln [ -s ] sourcename [ targetname ]
     ln [ -s ] sourcename1 sourcename2 [ sourcename3 ... ] targetdirectory

DESCRIPTION
     A link is a directory entry referring to a file; the same file (together
     with its size, all its protection information,and so on) may have several
     links to it.  There are two kinds of links,  hard links and symbolic
     links.

     By default ln makes hard links.  A hard link to a file is
     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 it is linked to. The referenced file is
     used when an open(2) operation is performed on the link.  A stat(2) on a
     symbolic link returns the linked-to file; you must execute lstat(2) to
     get information about the link.  You can use the readlink(2) call to read
     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
     sourcename.  If targetname is given, the link has that name; targetname
     can also be a directory in which to place the link; otherwise ln places
     it in the current directory.  If only the directory is specified, ln
     makes the link to the last component of sourcename.

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

NOTE
     Symbolic links in Domain/OS are implemented as soft links. These are
     identical in behavior, except that soft links do not have protections
     associated with the links themselves.

     Domain/OS symbolic links are implemented in the parent directory object,
     not in separate files.  Because of this, symbolic links created in the
     same directory will share the creation/modification information for the
     most recently created symbolic link.

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