1.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1990 The Regents of the University of California. 2.\" All rights reserved. 3.\" 4.\" %sccs.include.redist.man% 5.\" 6.\" @(#)ln.1 6.5 (Berkeley) 07/24/90 7.\" 8.Dd 9.Dt LN 1 10.Os BSD 4 11.Sh NAME 12.Nm ln 13.Nd make links 14.Sh SYNOPSIS 15.Nm ln 16.Op Fl s 17.Ar source_file 18.Op target_file 19.Nm ln 20.Op Fl s 21.Ar source_file ... 22.Op target_dir 23.Sh DESCRIPTION 24The 25.Nm ln 26utility creates a new 27directory entry (linked file) 28which inherits the same modes as the orginal 29file. 30It is useful for maintaining multiple copies of a file in 31many places at once - without the `copies'; instead, 32a link `points' to the original copy. 33There are two types of links; hard links and symbolic links. 34How a link `points' to a file is one of the differences 35between a hard or symbolic link. 36.Pp 37Option available: 38.Tw Ds 39.Tp Fl s 40Create a symbolic link. 41.Tp 42.Pp 43By default 44.Nm ln 45makes 46.Em hard 47links. 48A hard link to a file is indistinguishable from the 49original directory entry; any changes to a 50file are effective independent of the name used 51to reference the file. Hard links may not refer to directories 52(unless the proper incantations are supplied) and may not span 53file systems. 54.Pp 55A symbolic link contains the name of the file to 56which it is linked. The referenced file is used when an 57.Xr open 2 58operation is performed on the link. 59A 60.Xr stat 2 61on a symbolic link will return the linked-to file; an 62.Xr lstat 2 63must be done to obtain information about the link. 64The 65.Xr readlink 2 66call may be used to read the contents of a symbolic link. 67Symbolic links may span file systems and may refer to directories. 68.Pp 69Given one or two arguments, 70.Nm ln 71creates a link to an existing file 72.Ar source_file . 73If 74.Ar target_file 75is given, the link has that name; 76.Ar target_file 77may also be a directory in which to place the link; 78otherwise it is placed in the current directory. 79If only the directory is specified, the link will be made 80to the last component of 81.Ar source_file . 82.Pp 83Given more than two arguments, 84.Nm ln 85makes links in 86.Ar target_dir 87to all the named source files. 88The links made will have the same name as the files being linked to. 89.Sh SEE ALSO 90.Xr rm 1 , 91.Xr cp 1 , 92.Xr mv 1 , 93.Xr link 2 , 94.Xr readlink 2 , 95.Xr stat 2 , 96.Xr symlink 2 97.Sh HISTORY 98A 99.Nm ln 100command appeared in Version 6 AT&T Unix. 101