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.	By
       default,  each  destination (name of new link) should not already exist.  When creating 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
	      dereference TARGETs that are symbolic links

       -n, --no-dereference
	      treat LINK_NAME as a normal file if it is a symbolic link to a directory

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

       -r, --relative
	      create symbolic links relative to link location

       -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 always

       -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:

       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

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

       GNU coreutils online help: <http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/> Report ln translation bugs to <http://translationproject.org/team/>

AUTHOR

       Written by Mike Parker and David MacKenzie.

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (C) 2013 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 8.22						     June 2014								     LN(1)