NAME

ln − make links

SYNOPSIS

ln name1 [ name2 ]
ln name ... directory

DESCRIPTION

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.  You can use link to put a file in several directories; or to put a file in another directory under another name.  A link is not a copy.  Any changes made to the file in one directory will be seen whenever that file is accessed through one of its other links.  There is no way to distinguish a link to a file from its original directory entry; any changes in the file are effective independently of the name by which the file is known. 

Given one or two arguments, ln creates a link to an existing file name1. If name2 is given, the link has that name; name2 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 will be made with its name the same as 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. 

It is forbidden to link a whole directory or to link across file systems. 

EXAMPLE

ln filea /unisoft/fileb

links filea to the name "fileb" in the /unisoft directory. 

ln filea fileb filec /a/unisoft/dir1

links the three named files to the named directory. 

SEE ALSO

rm(1), cp(1), mv(1)

7th Edition  —  1/19/82