LN

NAME

ln - make links between files

SYNOPSIS

ln [OPTION]... TARGET [LINK_NAME]
ln [OPTION]... TARGET... DIRECTORY
ln [OPTION]... --target-directory=DIRECTORY TARGET...

DESCRIPTION

Create a link to the specified TARGET with optional LINK_NAME. If LINK_NAME is omitted, a link with the same basename as the TARGET is created in the current directory. When using the second form with more than one TARGET, the last argument must be a directory; create links in DIRECTORY to each TARGET. Create hard links by default, symbolic links with --symbolic. When creating hard links, each TARGET must exist.

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
-n, --no-dereference: treat destination that is a symlink to a directory as if it were a normal file
-i, --interactive: prompt whether to remove destinations
-s, --symbolic: make symbolic links instead of hard links
-S, --suffix=SUFFIX: override the usual backup suffix
--target-directory=DIRECTORY: specify the DIRECTORY in which to create the links
-v, --verbose: print name of each file before linking
--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

AUTHOR

Written by Mike Parker and David MacKenzie.

REPORTING BUGS

Report bugs to <bug-coreutils@gnu.org>.

COPYRIGHT

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