.\" DO NOT MODIFY THIS FILE! It was generated by help2man 1.48.5.
.TH LN "1" "August 2024" "GNU coreutils 9.5" "User Commands"
.SH NAME
ln \- make links between files
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B ln
[\fI\,OPTION\/\fR]... [\fI\,-T\/\fR] \fI\,TARGET LINK_NAME\/\fR
.br
.B ln
[\fI\,OPTION\/\fR]... \fI\,TARGET\/\fR
.br
.B ln
[\fI\,OPTION\/\fR]... \fI\,TARGET\/\fR... \fI\,DIRECTORY\/\fR
.br
.B ln
[\fI\,OPTION\/\fR]... \fI\,-t DIRECTORY TARGET\/\fR...
.SH DESCRIPTION
.\" Add any additional description here
.PP
In the 1st form, create a link to TARGET with the name LINK_NAME.
In the 2nd form, create a link to TARGET in the current directory.
In the 3rd and 4th forms, create links to each TARGET in DIRECTORY.
Create hard links by default, symbolic links with \fB\-\-symbolic\fR.
By default, each destination (name of new link) should not already exist.
When creating hard links, each TARGET must exist. Symbolic links
can hold arbitrary text; if later resolved, a relative link is
interpreted in relation to its parent directory.
.PP
Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.
.TP
\fB\-\-backup\fR[=\fI\,CONTROL\/\fR]
make a backup of each existing destination file
.TP
\fB\-b\fR
like \fB\-\-backup\fR but does not accept an argument
.TP
\fB\-d\fR, \fB\-F\fR, \fB\-\-directory\fR
allow the superuser to attempt to hard link
directories (this will probably fail due to
system restrictions, even for the superuser)
.TP
\fB\-f\fR, \fB\-\-force\fR
remove existing destination files
.TP
\fB\-i\fR, \fB\-\-interactive\fR
prompt whether to remove destinations
.TP
\fB\-L\fR, \fB\-\-logical\fR
dereference TARGETs that are symbolic links
.TP
\fB\-n\fR, \fB\-\-no\-dereference\fR
treat LINK_NAME as a normal file if
it is a symbolic link to a directory
.TP
\fB\-P\fR, \fB\-\-physical\fR
make hard links directly to symbolic links
.TP
\fB\-r\fR, \fB\-\-relative\fR
with \fB\-s\fR, create links relative to link location
.TP
\fB\-s\fR, \fB\-\-symbolic\fR
make symbolic links instead of hard links
.TP
\fB\-S\fR, \fB\-\-suffix\fR=\fI\,SUFFIX\/\fR
override the usual backup suffix
.TP
\fB\-t\fR, \fB\-\-target\-directory\fR=\fI\,DIRECTORY\/\fR
specify the DIRECTORY in which to create
the links
.TP
\fB\-T\fR, \fB\-\-no\-target\-directory\fR
treat LINK_NAME as a normal file always
.TP
\fB\-v\fR, \fB\-\-verbose\fR
print name of each linked file
.TP
\fB\-\-help\fR
display this help and exit
.TP
\fB\-\-version\fR
output version information and exit
.PP
The backup suffix is '~', unless set with \fB\-\-suffix\fR or SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX.
The version control method may be selected via the \fB\-\-backup\fR option or through
the VERSION_CONTROL environment variable. Here are the values:
.TP
none, off
never make backups (even if \fB\-\-backup\fR is given)
.TP
numbered, t
make numbered backups
.TP
existing, nil
numbered if numbered backups exist, simple otherwise
.TP
simple, never
always make simple backups
.PP
Using \fB\-s\fR ignores \fB\-L\fR and \fB\-P\fR. Otherwise, the last option specified controls
behavior when a TARGET is a symbolic link, defaulting to \fB\-P\fR.
.SH AUTHOR
Written by Mike Parker and David MacKenzie.
.SH "REPORTING BUGS"
GNU coreutils online help:
.br
Report any translation bugs to
.SH COPYRIGHT
Copyright \(co 2024 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later .
.br
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
\fBlink\fP(2), \fBsymlink\fP(2)
.PP
.br
Full documentation
.br
or available locally via: info \(aq(coreutils) ln invocation\(aq