.\" DO NOT MODIFY THIS FILE!  It was generated by help2man 1.35.
.TH LN "1" "September 2011" "GNU coreutils 8.12.197-032bb" "User Commands"
.SH NAME
ln \- make links between files
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B ln
[\fIOPTION\fR]... [\fI-T\fR] \fITARGET LINK_NAME   (1st form)\fR
.br
.B ln
[\fIOPTION\fR]... \fITARGET                  (2nd form)\fR
.br
.B ln
[\fIOPTION\fR]... \fITARGET\fR... \fIDIRECTORY     (3rd form)\fR
.br
.B ln
[\fIOPTION\fR]... \fI-t DIRECTORY TARGET\fR...  \fI(4th form)\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.
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[=\fICONTROL\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 (note: 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
make hard links to symbolic link references
.TP
\fB\-n\fR, \fB\-\-no\-dereference\fR
treat destination that is a symlink to a
directory as if it were a normal file
.TP
\fB\-P\fR, \fB\-\-physical\fR
make hard links directly to symbolic links
.TP
\fB\-s\fR, \fB\-\-symbolic\fR
make symbolic links instead of hard links
.TP
\fB\-S\fR, \fB\-\-suffix\fR=\fISUFFIX\fR
override the usual backup suffix
.TP
\fB\-t\fR, \fB\-\-target\-directory\fR=\fIDIRECTORY\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
.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:
.PP
Using \fB\-s\fR ignores \fB\-L\fR and \fB\-P\fR.  Otherwise, the last option specified controls
behavior when the source is a symbolic link, defaulting to \fB\-P\fR.
.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
.SH AUTHOR
Written by Mike Parker and David MacKenzie.
.SH "REPORTING BUGS"
Report ln bugs to bug\-coreutils@gnu.org
.br
GNU coreutils home page: <http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
.br
General help using GNU software: <http://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>
.br
Report ln translation bugs to <http://translationproject.org/team/>
.SH COPYRIGHT
Copyright \(co 2011 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
.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"
link(2), symlink(2)
.PP
The full documentation for
.B ln
is maintained as a Texinfo manual.  If the
.B info
and
.B ln
programs are properly installed at your site, the command
.IP
.B info coreutils \(aqln invocation\(aq
.PP
should give you access to the complete manual.