|
|
A Geeks Life Is Hard
08-22-2008
|
|
ln(1) General Commands Manual ln(1) Name ln - link to a file Syntax ln [ -f ] [ -i ] [ -s ] name1 [name2] ln [ -f ] [ -i ] [ -s ] name ... directory Description A link is a directory entry referring to a file. A file, together with its size and all its protection information may have several links to it. There are two kinds of links: hard links and symbolic links. By default makes hard links. A hard link to a file is indistinguishable from the original directory entry. Any changes to a file are effective independent of the name used to reference the file. Hard links may not span file systems and may not refer to directories. Given one or two arguments, creates a link to an existing file name1. If name2 is given, the link has that name. The 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 is made to the last component of name1. Given more than two arguments, makes links to all the named files in the named directory. The links made have the same name as the files being linked to. Options -f Forces existing destination pathnames to be removed before linking without prompting for confirmation. -i Write a prompt to standard output requesting information for each link that would overwrite an existing file. If the response from standard input is affirmative, and if permissions allow, the link is done. The -i option has this effect even if the standard input is not a terminal. -s Creates a symbolic link. A symbolic link contains the name of the file to which it is linked. The referenced file is used when an operation is performed on the link. A on a symbolic link returns the linked-to file. An must be done to obtain information about the link. The call may be used to read the contents of a symbolic link. Symbolic links may span file systems and may refer to directories. See Also cp(1), mv(1), rm(1), link(2), readlink(2), stat(2), symlink(2) ln(1)
