LN(1)								   User Commands							     LN(1)

NAME

       ln - make links between files

SYNOPSIS

       ln [OPTION]... [-T] TARGET LINK_NAME   (1st form)
       ln [OPTION]... TARGET		      (2nd form)
       ln [OPTION]... TARGET... DIRECTORY     (3rd form)
       ln [OPTION]... -t DIRECTORY TARGET...  (4th form)

DESCRIPTION

       In  the	1st form, create a link to TARGET with the name LINK_NAME.  In the 2nd form, create a link to TARGET in the current directory.	In
       the 3rd and 4th forms, create links to each TARGET in DIRECTORY.  Create hard links by default, symbolic links with --symbolic.	When  cre-
       ating  hard  links,  each  TARGET must exist.  Symbolic links can hold arbitrary text; if later resolved, a relative link is interpreted in
       relation to its parent directory.

       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  supe-
	      ruser)

       -f, --force
	      remove existing destination files

       -i, --interactive
	      prompt whether to remove destinations

       -L, --logical
	      make hard links to symbolic link references

       -n, --no-dereference
	      treat destination that is a symlink to a directory as if it were a normal file

       -P, --physical
	      make hard links directly to symbolic links

       -s, --symbolic
	      make symbolic links instead of hard links

       -S, --suffix=SUFFIX
	      override the usual backup suffix

       -t, --target-directory=DIRECTORY
	      specify the DIRECTORY in which to create the links

       -T, --no-target-directory
	      treat LINK_NAME as a normal file

       -v, --verbose
	      print name of each linked file

       --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:

       Using -s ignores -L and -P.  Otherwise, the last option specified controls behavior when the source is a symbolic link, defaulting to -P.

       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 ln bugs to bug-coreutils@gnu.org
       GNU coreutils home page: <http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
       General help using GNU software: <http://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>
       Report ln translation bugs to <http://translationproject.org/team/>

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (C) 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc.  License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
       This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.  There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

SEE ALSO

       link(2), symlink(2)

       The full documentation for ln is maintained as a Texinfo manual.  If the info and ln programs are properly installed at your site, the com-
       mand

	      info coreutils 'ln invocation'

       should give you access to the complete manual.

GNU coreutils 8.5						   February 2011							     LN(1)