1.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1990, 1993
2.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
3.\"
4.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
5.\" the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
6.\"
7.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
8.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
9.\" are met:
10.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
11.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
12.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
13.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
14.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
15.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
16.\" must display the following acknowledgement:
17.\" This product includes software developed by the University of
18.\" California, Berkeley and its contributors.
19.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
20.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
21.\" without specific prior written permission.
22.\"
23.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
24.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
25.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
26.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
27.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
28.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
29.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
30.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
31.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
32.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
33.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
34.\"
35.\" @(#)ln.1 8.2 (Berkeley) 12/30/93
| 1.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1990, 1993
2.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
3.\"
4.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
5.\" the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
6.\"
7.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
8.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
9.\" are met:
10.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
11.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
12.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
13.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
14.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
15.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
16.\" must display the following acknowledgement:
17.\" This product includes software developed by the University of
18.\" California, Berkeley and its contributors.
19.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
20.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
21.\" without specific prior written permission.
22.\"
23.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
24.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
25.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
26.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
27.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
28.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
29.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
30.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
31.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
32.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
33.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
34.\"
35.\" @(#)ln.1 8.2 (Berkeley) 12/30/93
|
36.\"
37.Dd December 30, 1993
38.Dt LN 1
39.Os BSD 4
40.Sh NAME
41.Nm ln
42.Nd make links
43.Sh SYNOPSIS
44.Nm ln
45.Op Fl fs
46.Ar source_file
47.Op target_file
48.Nm ln
49.Op Fl fs
50.Ar source_file ...
51.Op target_dir
52.Sh DESCRIPTION
53The
54.Nm ln
55utility creates a new directory entry (linked file) which has the
56same modes as the original file.
57It is useful for maintaining multiple copies of a file in many places
58at once without using up storage for the
59.Dq copies ;
60instead, a link
61.Dq points
62to the original copy.
63There are two types of links; hard links and symbolic links.
64How a link
65.Dq points
66to a file is one of the differences between a hard or symbolic link.
67.Pp
68The options are as follows:
69.Bl -tag -width flag
70.It Fl f
71Unlink any already existing file, permitting the link to occur.
72.It Fl s
73Create a symbolic link.
74.El
75.Pp
76By default
77.Nm ln
78makes
79.Em hard
80links.
81A hard link to a file is indistinguishable from the original directory entry;
82any changes to a file are effective independent of the name used to reference
83the file.
84Hard links may not normally refer to directories and may not span file systems.
85.Pp
86A symbolic link contains the name of the file to
87which it is linked. The referenced file is used when an
88.Xr open 2
89operation is performed on the link.
90A
91.Xr stat 2
92on a symbolic link will return the linked-to file; an
93.Xr lstat 2
94must be done to obtain information about the link.
95The
96.Xr readlink 2
97call may be used to read the contents of a symbolic link.
98Symbolic links may span file systems and may refer to directories.
99.Pp
100Given one or two arguments,
101.Nm ln
102creates a link to an existing file
103.Ar source_file .
104If
105.Ar target_file
106is given, the link has that name;
107.Ar target_file
108may also be a directory in which to place the link;
109otherwise it is placed in the current directory.
110If only the directory is specified, the link will be made
111to the last component of
112.Ar source_file .
113.Pp
114Given more than two arguments,
115.Nm ln
116makes links in
117.Ar target_dir
118to all the named source files.
119The links made will have the same name as the files being linked to.
120.Sh SEE ALSO
121.Xr link 2 ,
122.Xr lstat 2 ,
123.Xr readlink 2 ,
124.Xr stat 2 ,
125.Xr symlink 2 ,
126.Xr symlink 7
127.Sh HISTORY
128A
129.Nm ln
130command appeared in
131.At v6 .
| 37.\"
38.Dd December 30, 1993
39.Dt LN 1
40.Os BSD 4
41.Sh NAME
42.Nm ln
43.Nd make links
44.Sh SYNOPSIS
45.Nm ln
46.Op Fl fs
47.Ar source_file
48.Op target_file
49.Nm ln
50.Op Fl fs
51.Ar source_file ...
52.Op target_dir
53.Sh DESCRIPTION
54The
55.Nm ln
56utility creates a new directory entry (linked file) which has the
57same modes as the original file.
58It is useful for maintaining multiple copies of a file in many places
59at once without using up storage for the
60.Dq copies ;
61instead, a link
62.Dq points
63to the original copy.
64There are two types of links; hard links and symbolic links.
65How a link
66.Dq points
67to a file is one of the differences between a hard or symbolic link.
68.Pp
69The options are as follows:
70.Bl -tag -width flag
71.It Fl f
72Unlink any already existing file, permitting the link to occur.
73.It Fl s
74Create a symbolic link.
75.El
76.Pp
77By default
78.Nm ln
79makes
80.Em hard
81links.
82A hard link to a file is indistinguishable from the original directory entry;
83any changes to a file are effective independent of the name used to reference
84the file.
85Hard links may not normally refer to directories and may not span file systems.
86.Pp
87A symbolic link contains the name of the file to
88which it is linked. The referenced file is used when an
89.Xr open 2
90operation is performed on the link.
91A
92.Xr stat 2
93on a symbolic link will return the linked-to file; an
94.Xr lstat 2
95must be done to obtain information about the link.
96The
97.Xr readlink 2
98call may be used to read the contents of a symbolic link.
99Symbolic links may span file systems and may refer to directories.
100.Pp
101Given one or two arguments,
102.Nm ln
103creates a link to an existing file
104.Ar source_file .
105If
106.Ar target_file
107is given, the link has that name;
108.Ar target_file
109may also be a directory in which to place the link;
110otherwise it is placed in the current directory.
111If only the directory is specified, the link will be made
112to the last component of
113.Ar source_file .
114.Pp
115Given more than two arguments,
116.Nm ln
117makes links in
118.Ar target_dir
119to all the named source files.
120The links made will have the same name as the files being linked to.
121.Sh SEE ALSO
122.Xr link 2 ,
123.Xr lstat 2 ,
124.Xr readlink 2 ,
125.Xr stat 2 ,
126.Xr symlink 2 ,
127.Xr symlink 7
128.Sh HISTORY
129A
130.Nm ln
131command appeared in
132.At v6 .
|