LN(1B)

📦 version 070715, in nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable

LN(1B) from BSD System Compatibility, bestie — welcome to the ln page, where we make links and keep it iconic. 💖

✨ NAME ✨

ln — (BSD) make links 💅

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

/ucb/ln [-fs] sourcename [targetname]

/ucb/ln [-fs] sourcename1 sourcename2 [sourcename3 ...] targetdirectory

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

Okay so a link is a directory entry referring to a file; the same file (together with its size, all its protection information, etc.) may have several links to it. There are two kinds of links: hard links and symbolic links. No cap. 🦋

By default ln makes hard links. A hard link to a file is indistinguishable from the original directory entry; any changes to a file are effective independent of the name used to reference the file. Hard links may not span file systems and may not refer to directories. That's just the rules, bestie. 😭

The -s option causes ln to create symbolic links. A symbolic link contains the name of the file to which it is linked. The referenced file is used when an open(2) operation is performed on the link. A stat(2) on a symbolic link will return the linked-to file; an lstat(2) must be done to obtain information about the link. The readlink(2) call may be used to read the contents of a symbolic link. Symbolic links may span file systems and may refer to directories. So flexible, so main character. ✨

Given one or two arguments, ln creates a link to an existing file sourcename. If targetname is given, the link has that name; targetname may also be a directory in which to place the link; otherwise it is placed in the current directory. If only the directory is specified, the link will be made to the last component of sourcename. Slay. 🫶

Given more than two arguments, ln makes links in targetdirectory to all the named source files. The links made will have the same name as the files being linked to. Periodt. 💜

🌈 OPTIONS 🌈

  • -f — if this option is present, ln tries to create hard links to directories. 👀
  • -s — causes ln to create symbolic links. 🔥

💫 SEE ALSO 💫

rm(1), cp(1), mv(1), link(2), readlink(2), stat(2), symlink(2)

And that's the whole page, bestie! This iconic manual is from the 4th Berkeley Distribution, dated 4/24/03, and it lives at LN(1B). Slay. 💅✨

📦 where this page comes from