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 6.4 (Berkeley) 06/24/90 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 Ar source_file 17.Op target_file 18.Nm ln 19.Op Fl s 20.Ar source_file ... target_dir 21.Sh DESCRIPTION 22The 23.Nm ln 24utility creates a new 25directory entry (a link) 26for a file which 27inherits the same modes. 28The entry behaves in most cases as if it were the 29original file. 30It is useful for keeping groups of files together 31in directories, but with out multiple copies of the same file. 32There are two kinds of links: hard links and symbolic links. 33.Pp 34By default 35.Nm ln 36makes 37.Em hard 38links. 39A hard link to a file is indistinguishable from the 40original directory entry; any changes to a 41file are effective independent of the name used 42to reference the file. Hard links may not refer to directories 43(unless the proper incantations are supplied) and may not span 44file systems. 45.Pp 46Options: 47.Tp Fl s 48Create symbolic links. 49A symbolic link contains the name of the file to 50which it is linked. The referenced file is used when an 51.Xr open 2 52operation is performed on the link. 53A 54.Xr stat 2 55on a symbolic link will return the linked-to file; an 56.Xr lstat 2 57must be done to obtain information about the link. 58The 59.Xr readlink 2 60call may be used to read the contents of a symbolic link. 61Symbolic links may span file systems and may refer to directories. 62.Tp 63.Pp 64Given one or two arguments, 65.Nm ln 66creates a link to an existing file 67.Ar source_file . 68If 69.Ar target_file 70is given, the link has that name; 71.Ar target_file 72may also be a directory in which to place the link; 73otherwise it is placed in the current directory. 74If only the directory is specified, the link will be made 75to the last component of 76.Ar source_file . 77.Pp 78Given more than two arguments, 79.Nm ln 80makes links in 81.Ar target_dir 82to all the named source files. 83The links made will have the same name as the files being linked to. 84.Sh SEE ALSO 85.Xr rm 1 , 86.Xr cp 1 , 87.Xr mv 1 , 88.Xr link 2 , 89.Xr readlink 2 , 90.Xr stat 2 , 91.Xr symlink 2 92.Sh HISTORY 93A 94.Nm ln 95command appeared in Version 6 AT&T Unix. 96