1.\" $NetBSD: ln.1,v 1.25 2012/03/22 07:58:17 wiz Exp $ 2.\" 3.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1990, 1993 4.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. 5.\" 6.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by 7.\" the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. 8.\" 9.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 10.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 11.\" are met: 12.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright 13.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 14.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright 15.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 16.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 17.\" 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors 18.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software 19.\" without specific prior written permission. 20.\" 21.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND 22.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 23.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 24.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE 25.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 26.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 27.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 28.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 29.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 30.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 31.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 32.\" 33.\" @(#)ln.1 8.2 (Berkeley) 12/30/93 34.\" 35.Dd October 29, 2007 36.Dt LN 1 37.Os 38.Sh NAME 39.Nm ln 40.Nd make links 41.Sh SYNOPSIS 42.Nm 43.Op Fl fhinsv 44.Ar source_file 45.Op Ar target_file 46.Nm 47.Op Fl fhinsv 48.Ar source_file ... target_dir 49.Sh DESCRIPTION 50The 51.Nm 52utility creates a new directory entry (linked file) which has the 53same modes as the original file. 54It is useful for maintaining multiple copies of a file in many places 55at once without using up storage for the 56.Dq copies ; 57instead, a link 58.Dq points 59to the original copy. 60There are two types of links: hard links and symbolic links. 61How a link 62.Dq points 63to a file is one of the differences between a hard or symbolic link. 64.Pp 65The options are as follows: 66.Bl -tag -width flag 67.It Fl f 68Unlink any already existing file, permitting the link to occur. 69.It Fl h 70If the 71.Ar target_file 72or 73.Ar target_dir 74is a symbolic link, do not follow it. 75This is most useful with the 76.Fl f 77option, to replace a symlink which may point to a directory. 78.It Fl i 79Cause 80.Nm 81to write a prompt to standard error if the target file exists. 82If the response from the standard input begins with the character 83.Sq Li y 84or 85.Sq Li Y , 86then unlink the target file so that the link may occur. 87Otherwise, do not attempt the link. 88(The 89.Fl i 90option overrides any previous 91.Fl f 92options.) 93.It Fl n 94Same as 95.Fl h , 96for compatibility with other 97.Nm 98implementations, namely GNU coreutils. 99.It Fl s 100Create a symbolic link. 101.It Fl v 102Cause 103.Nm 104to be verbose, showing files as they are processed. 105.El 106.Pp 107By default 108.Nm 109makes 110.Em hard 111links. 112A hard link to a file is indistinguishable from the original directory entry; 113any changes to a file are effective independent of the name used to reference 114the file. 115Hard links may not normally refer to directories and may not span file systems. 116.Pp 117A symbolic link contains the name of the file to 118which it is linked. 119The referenced file is used when an 120.Xr open 2 121operation is performed on the link. 122A 123.Xr stat 2 124on a symbolic link will return the linked-to file; an 125.Xr lstat 2 126must be done to obtain information about the link. 127The 128.Xr readlink 2 129call may be used to read the contents of a symbolic link. 130Symbolic links may span file systems and may refer to directories. 131.Pp 132Given one or two arguments, 133.Nm 134creates a link to an existing file 135.Ar source_file . 136If 137.Ar target_file 138is given, the link has that name; 139.Ar target_file 140may also be a directory in which to place the link; 141otherwise it is placed in the current directory. 142If only the directory is specified, the link will be made 143to the last component of 144.Ar source_file . 145.Pp 146Given more than two arguments, 147.Nm 148makes links in 149.Ar target_dir 150to all the named source files. 151The links made will have the same name as the files being linked to. 152.Sh SEE ALSO 153.Xr link 2 , 154.Xr lstat 2 , 155.Xr readlink 2 , 156.Xr stat 2 , 157.Xr symlink 2 , 158.Xr symlink 7 159.Sh STANDARDS 160The 161.Nm 162utility conforms to 163.St -p1003.2-92 . 164.Pp 165The 166.Fl v 167option is an extension to 168.St -p1003.2-92 . 169.Sh HISTORY 170A 171.Nm 172utility appeared in 173.At v6 . 174