link(2) [bsd man page]
LINK(2) System Calls Manual LINK(2) NAME
link - make a hard link to a file SYNOPSIS
link(name1, name2) char *name1, *name2; DESCRIPTION
A hard link to name1 is created; the link has the name name2. Name1 must exist. With hard links, both name1 and name2 must be in the same file system. Unless the caller is the super-user, name1 must not be a directory. Both the old and the new link share equal access and rights to the underlying object. RETURN VALUE
Upon successful completion, a value of 0 is returned. Otherwise, a value of -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the error. ERRORS
Link will fail and no link will be created if one or more of the following are true: [ENOTDIR] A component of either path prefix is not a directory. [EINVAL] Either pathname contains a character with the high-order bit set. [ENAMETOOLONG] A component of either pathname exceeded 255 characters, or entire length of either path name exceeded 1023 characters. [ENOENT] A component of either path prefix does not exist. [EACCES] A component of either path prefix denies search permission. [EACCES] The requested link requires writing in a directory with a mode that denies write permission. [ELOOP] Too many symbolic links were encountered in translating one of the pathnames. [ENOENT] The file named by name1 does not exist. [EEXIST] The link named by name2 does exist. [EPERM] The file named by name1 is a directory and the effective user ID is not super-user. [EXDEV] The link named by name2 and the file named by name1 are on different file systems. [ENOSPC] The directory in which the entry for the new link is being placed cannot be extended because there is no space left on the file system containing the directory. [EDQUOT] The directory in which the entry for the new link is being placed cannot be extended because the user's quota of disk blocks on the file system containing the directory has been exhausted. [EIO] An I/O error occurred while reading from or writing to the file system to make the directory entry. [EROFS] The requested link requires writing in a directory on a read-only file system. [EFAULT] One of the pathnames specified is outside the process's allocated address space. SEE ALSO
symlink(2), unlink(2) 4th Berkeley Distribution August 26, 1985 LINK(2)
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link(2) System Calls Manual link(2) Name link - link to a file Syntax link(name1, name2) char *name1, *name2; Description A hard link to name1 is created; the link has the name name2. The name1 must exist. With hard links, both name1 and name2 must be in the same file system. Unless the caller is the superuser, name1 must not be a directory. Both the old and the new share equal access and rights to the underlying object. Return Values Upon successful completion, a value of 0 is returned. Otherwise, a value of -1 is returned, and errno is set to indicate the error. Diagnostics The system call fails and no link is created under the following conditions: [ENOTDIR] A component of either path prefix is not a directory. [ENAMETOOLONG] A component of either pathname exceeded 255 characters, or the entire length of either pathname exceeded 1023 characters. [ENOENT] A component of either path prefix does not exist. [ENOENT] The file named by name1 does not exist. [ENOENT] When name1 or name2 point to an empty string and the environment defined is POSIX or SYSTEM_FIVE. [EACCES] A component of either path prefix denies search permission. [EACCES] The requested link requires writing in a directory with a mode that denies write permission. [EEXIST] The link named by name2 does exist. [EPERM] The file named by name1 is a directory, and the effective user ID is not that of superuser or the environment defined is POSIX. [EXDEV] The link named by name2 and the file named by name1 are on different file systems. [EROFS] The requested link requires writing in a directory on a read-only file system. [EFAULT] One of the pathnames specified is outside the process's allocated address space. [ELOOP] Too many symbolic links were encountered in translating one of the pathnames. [ENOSPC] The directory in which the entry for the new link is being placed cannot be extended because there is no space left on the file system containing the directory. [EDQUOT] The directory in which the entry for the new link is being placed cannot be extended because the user's quota of disk blocks on the file system containing the directory has been exhausted. [EIO] An I/O error occurred while reading from or writing to the file system to make the directory entry. [ESTALE] The file handle given in the argument is invalid. The file referred to by that file handle no longer exists or has been revoked. [ETIMEDOUT] A connect request or remote file operation failed because the connected party did not properly respond after a period of time that is dependent on the communications protocol. [EMLINK] The number of links to the file named by path1 would exceed {LINK_MAX}. Environment In the POSIX environment, linking to directories is not allowed. See Also symlink(2), unlink(2) link(2)