ln(1)                   (BSD Compatibility Package)                   ln(1)


   NAME
         ln - make hard or symbolic links to files

   SYNOPSIS
         /usr/ucb/ln [ -fs ] filename [ linkname ]
         /usr/ucb/ln [ -fs ] pathname...  directory

   DESCRIPTION
         /usr/ucb/ln creates an additional directory entry, called a link, to
         a file or directory.  Any number of links can be assigned to a file.
         The number of links does not affect other file attributes such as
         size, protections, data, etc.

         filename is the name of the original file or directory.  linkname is
         the new name to associate with the file or filename.  If linkname is
         omitted, the last component of filename is used as the name of the
         link.

         If the last argument is the name of a directory, symbolic links are
         made in that directory for each pathname argument; /usr/ucb/ln uses
         the last component of each pathname as the name of each link in the
         named directory.

         A hard link (the default) is a standard directory entry just like the
         one made when the file was created.  Hard links can only be made to
         existing files.  Hard links cannot be made across file systems (disk
         partitions, mounted file systems).  To remove a file, all hard links
         to it must be removed, including the name by which it was first
         created; removing the last hard link releases the inode associated
         with the file.

         A symbolic link, made with the -s option, is a special directory
         entry that points to another named file.  Symbolic links can span
         file systems and point to directories.  In fact, you can create a
         symbolic link that points to a file that is currently absent from the
         file system; removing the file that it points to does not affect or
         alter the symbolic link itself.

         A symbolic link to a directory behaves differently than you might
         expect in certain cases.  While an ls(1V) on such a link displays the
         files in the pointed-to directory, an `ls -l' displays information
         about the link itself:
               example% /usr/ucb/ln -s dir link
               example% ls link
               file1 file2 file3 file4
               example% ls -l link
               lrwxrwxrwx  1 user            7 Jan 11 23:27 link -> dir

         When you cd(1) to a directory through a symbolic link, you wind up in
         the pointed-to location within the file system.  This means that the
         parent of the new working directory is not the parent of the symbolic


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         link, but rather, the parent of the pointed-to directory.  For
         instance, in the following case the final working directory is /usr
         and not /home/user/linktest.
               example% pwd
               /home/user/linktest
               example% /usr/ucb/ln -s /var/tmp symlink
               example% cd symlink
               example% cd ..
               example% pwd
               /usr

         C shell user's can avoid any resulting navigation problems by using
         the pushd and popd built-in commands instead of cd.

   OPTIONS
         -f    Force a hard link to a directory - this option is only
               available to the super-user.

         -s    Create a symbolic link or links.

   EXAMPLE
         The commands below illustrate the effects of the different forms of
         the /usr/ucb/ln command:
               example% /usr/ucb/ln file link
               example% ls -F file link
               file   link
               example% /usr/ucb/ln -s file symlink
               example% ls -F file symlink
               file   symlink@
               example% ls -li file link symlink
                10606 -rw-r--r--  2 user            0 Jan 12 00:06 file
                10606 -rw-r--r--  2 user            0 Jan 12 00:06 link
                10607 lrwxrwxrwx  1 user            4 Jan 12 00:06 symlink -> file
               example% /usr/ucb/ln -s nonesuch devoid
               example% ls -F devoid
               devoid@
               example% cat devoid
               devoid: No such file or directory
               example% /usr/ucb/ln -s /proto/bin/* /tmp/bin
               example% ls -F /proto/bin /tmp/bin
               /proto/bin:
               x*      y*      z*

               /tmp/bin:
               x@      y@      z@

   SEE ALSO
         cp(1), ls(1), mv(1), rm(1).





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         link(2), readlink(2), stat(2), symlink(2) in the Programmer's
         Reference Manual.

   NOTES
         When the last argument is a directory, simple basenames should not be
         used for pathname arguments.  If a basename is used, the resulting
         symbolic link points to itself:
               example% /usr/ucb/ln -s file /tmp
               example% ls -l /tmp/file
               lrwxrwxrwx  1 user            4 Jan 12 00:16 /tmp/file -> file
               example% cat /tmp/file
               /tmp/file: Too many levels of symbolic links

         To avoid this problem, use full pathnames, or prepend a reference to
         the PWD variable to files in the working directory:
               example% rm /tmp/file
               example% /usr/ucb/ln -s $PWD/file /tmp
               lrwxrwxrwx  1 user
                     4 Jan 12 00:16 /tmp/file -> /home/user/subdir/file


































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