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44a7a5ab A |
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 | |
6c780a1f | 36 | .\" $FreeBSD: src/bin/ln/ln.1,v 1.25 2002/08/21 17:32:32 trhodes Exp $ |
44a7a5ab A |
37 | .\" |
38 | .Dd December 30, 1993 | |
39 | .Dt LN 1 | |
6c780a1f | 40 | .Os |
44a7a5ab | 41 | .Sh NAME |
6c780a1f A |
42 | .Nm ln , |
43 | .Nm link | |
44a7a5ab A |
44 | .Nd make links |
45 | .Sh SYNOPSIS | |
46 | .Nm | |
6c780a1f | 47 | .Op Fl fhinsv |
44a7a5ab | 48 | .Ar source_file |
6c780a1f A |
49 | .Op Ar target_file |
50 | .Nm | |
51 | .Op Fl fhinsv | |
44a7a5ab | 52 | .Ar source_file ... |
6c780a1f A |
53 | .Ar target_dir |
54 | .Nm link | |
55 | .Ar source_file Ar target_file | |
44a7a5ab A |
56 | .Sh DESCRIPTION |
57 | The | |
58 | .Nm | |
59 | utility creates a new directory entry (linked file) which has the | |
60 | same modes as the original file. | |
61 | It is useful for maintaining multiple copies of a file in many places | |
62 | at once without using up storage for the | |
63 | .Dq copies ; | |
64 | instead, a link | |
65 | .Dq points | |
66 | to the original copy. | |
67 | There are two types of links; hard links and symbolic links. | |
68 | How a link | |
69 | .Dq points | |
6c780a1f | 70 | to a file is one of the differences between a hard and symbolic link. |
44a7a5ab A |
71 | .Pp |
72 | The options are as follows: | |
73 | .Bl -tag -width flag | |
74 | .It Fl f | |
6c780a1f A |
75 | If the target file already exists, |
76 | then unlink it so that the link may occur. | |
77 | (The | |
78 | .Fl f | |
79 | option overrides any previous | |
80 | .Fl i | |
81 | options.) | |
44a7a5ab A |
82 | .It Fl h |
83 | If the | |
84 | .Ar target_file | |
85 | or | |
86 | .Ar target_dir | |
87 | is a symbolic link, do not follow it. This is most useful with the | |
88 | .Fl f | |
89 | option, to replace a symlink which may point to a directory. | |
6c780a1f A |
90 | .It Fl i |
91 | Cause | |
92 | .Nm | |
93 | to write a prompt to standard error if the target file exists. | |
94 | If the response from the standard input begins with the character | |
95 | .Sq Li y | |
96 | or | |
97 | .Sq Li Y , | |
98 | then unlink the target file so that the link may occur. | |
99 | Otherwise, do not attempt the link. | |
100 | (The | |
101 | .Fl i | |
102 | option overrides any previous | |
103 | .Fl f | |
104 | options.) | |
44a7a5ab A |
105 | .It Fl n |
106 | Same as | |
107 | .Fl h , | |
108 | for compatibility with other | |
109 | .Nm | |
110 | implementations. | |
111 | .It Fl s | |
112 | Create a symbolic link. | |
6c780a1f A |
113 | .It Fl v |
114 | Cause | |
115 | .Nm | |
116 | to be verbose, showing files as they are processed. | |
44a7a5ab A |
117 | .El |
118 | .Pp | |
6c780a1f | 119 | By default, |
44a7a5ab A |
120 | .Nm |
121 | makes | |
122 | .Em hard | |
123 | links. | |
124 | A hard link to a file is indistinguishable from the original directory entry; | |
6c780a1f | 125 | any changes to a file are effectively independent of the name used to reference |
44a7a5ab A |
126 | the file. |
127 | Hard links may not normally refer to directories and may not span file systems. | |
128 | .Pp | |
129 | A symbolic link contains the name of the file to | |
130 | which it is linked. The referenced file is used when an | |
131 | .Xr open 2 | |
132 | operation is performed on the link. | |
133 | A | |
134 | .Xr stat 2 | |
135 | on a symbolic link will return the linked-to file; an | |
136 | .Xr lstat 2 | |
137 | must be done to obtain information about the link. | |
138 | The | |
139 | .Xr readlink 2 | |
140 | call may be used to read the contents of a symbolic link. | |
141 | Symbolic links may span file systems and may refer to directories. | |
142 | .Pp | |
143 | Given one or two arguments, | |
144 | .Nm | |
145 | creates a link to an existing file | |
146 | .Ar source_file . | |
147 | If | |
148 | .Ar target_file | |
149 | is given, the link has that name; | |
150 | .Ar target_file | |
151 | may also be a directory in which to place the link; | |
152 | otherwise it is placed in the current directory. | |
153 | If only the directory is specified, the link will be made | |
154 | to the last component of | |
155 | .Ar source_file . | |
156 | .Pp | |
157 | Given more than two arguments, | |
158 | .Nm | |
159 | makes links in | |
160 | .Ar target_dir | |
161 | to all the named source files. | |
162 | The links made will have the same name as the files being linked to. | |
6c780a1f A |
163 | .Pp |
164 | When the utility is called as | |
165 | .Nm link , | |
166 | exactly two arguments must be supplied, | |
167 | neither of which may specify a directory. | |
168 | No options may be supplied in this simple mode of operation, | |
169 | which performs a | |
170 | .Xr link 2 | |
171 | operation using the two passed arguments. | |
44a7a5ab A |
172 | .Sh SEE ALSO |
173 | .Xr link 2 , | |
174 | .Xr lstat 2 , | |
175 | .Xr readlink 2 , | |
176 | .Xr stat 2 , | |
177 | .Xr symlink 2 , | |
178 | .Xr symlink 7 | |
6c780a1f A |
179 | .Sh COMPATIBILITY |
180 | The | |
181 | .Fl h , | |
182 | .Fl i , | |
183 | .Fl n | |
184 | and | |
185 | .Fl v | |
186 | options are non-standard and their use in scripts is not recommended. | |
187 | They are provided solely for compatibility with other | |
188 | .Nm | |
189 | implementations. | |
190 | .Sh STANDARDS | |
191 | The | |
192 | .Nm | |
193 | utility conforms to | |
194 | .St -p1003.2-92 . | |
195 | .Pp | |
196 | The simplified | |
197 | .Nm link | |
198 | command conforms to | |
199 | .St -susv2 . | |
44a7a5ab | 200 | .Sh HISTORY |
6c780a1f | 201 | An |
44a7a5ab | 202 | .Nm |
6c780a1f A |
203 | command appeared in |
204 | .At v1 . |