1LN(1) User Commands LN(1)
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6 ln - make links between files
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9 ln [OPTION]... [-T] TARGET LINK_NAME
10 ln [OPTION]... TARGET
11 ln [OPTION]... TARGET... DIRECTORY
12 ln [OPTION]... -t DIRECTORY TARGET...
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15 In the 1st form, create a link to TARGET with the name LINK_NAME. In
16 the 2nd form, create a link to TARGET in the current directory. In the
17 3rd and 4th forms, create links to each TARGET in DIRECTORY. Create
18 hard links by default, symbolic links with --symbolic. By default,
19 each destination (name of new link) should not already exist. When
20 creating hard links, each TARGET must exist. Symbolic links can hold
21 arbitrary text; if later resolved, a relative link is interpreted in
22 relation to its parent directory.
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24 Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options
25 too.
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27 --backup[=CONTROL]
28 make a backup of each existing destination file
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30 -b like --backup but does not accept an argument
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32 -d, -F, --directory
33 allow the superuser to attempt to hard link directories (note:
34 will probably fail due to system restrictions, even for the
35 superuser)
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37 -f, --force
38 remove existing destination files
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40 -i, --interactive
41 prompt whether to remove destinations
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43 -L, --logical
44 dereference TARGETs that are symbolic links
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46 -n, --no-dereference
47 treat LINK_NAME as a normal file if it is a symbolic link to a
48 directory
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50 -P, --physical
51 make hard links directly to symbolic links
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53 -r, --relative
54 create symbolic links relative to link location
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56 -s, --symbolic
57 make symbolic links instead of hard links
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59 -S, --suffix=SUFFIX
60 override the usual backup suffix
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62 -t, --target-directory=DIRECTORY
63 specify the DIRECTORY in which to create the links
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65 -T, --no-target-directory
66 treat LINK_NAME as a normal file always
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68 -v, --verbose
69 print name of each linked file
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71 --help display this help and exit
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73 --version
74 output version information and exit
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76 The backup suffix is '~', unless set with --suffix or SIM‐
77 PLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX. The version control method may be selected via the
78 --backup option or through the VERSION_CONTROL environment variable.
79 Here are the values:
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81 none, off
82 never make backups (even if --backup is given)
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84 numbered, t
85 make numbered backups
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87 existing, nil
88 numbered if numbered backups exist, simple otherwise
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90 simple, never
91 always make simple backups
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93 Using -s ignores -L and -P. Otherwise, the last option specified con‐
94 trols behavior when a TARGET is a symbolic link, defaulting to -P.
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97 Written by Mike Parker and David MacKenzie.
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100 GNU coreutils online help: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
101 Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>
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104 Copyright © 2019 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU
105 GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
106 This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
107 There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
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110 link(2), symlink(2)
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112 Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/ln>
113 or available locally via: info '(coreutils) ln invocation'
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117GNU coreutils 8.31 October 2019 LN(1)