1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
|
.\" DO NOT MODIFY THIS FILE! It was generated by help2man 1.50.1.
.TH LN "1" "February 2026" "GNU coreutils 9.10" "User Commands"
.SH NAME
ln \- make links between files
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B ln
[\fI\,OPTION\/\fR]... [\fI\,-T\/\fR] \fI\,TARGET LINK_NAME\/\fR
.br
.B ln
[\fI\,OPTION\/\fR]... \fI\,TARGET\/\fR
.br
.B ln
[\fI\,OPTION\/\fR]... \fI\,TARGET\/\fR... \fI\,DIRECTORY\/\fR
.br
.B ln
[\fI\,OPTION\/\fR]... \fI\,-t DIRECTORY TARGET\/\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.
By default, each destination (name of new link) should not already exist.
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
\X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ln--backup'\fB\-\-backup[=CONTROL]\fP\X'tty: link'
make a backup of each existing destination file
.TP
\X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ln-b'\fB\-b\fP\X'tty: link'
like \fB\-\-backup\fR but does not accept an argument
.TP
\X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ln-d'\fB\-d, \-F, \-\-directory\fP\X'tty: link'
allow the superuser to attempt to hard link directories,
if supported by the system
.TP
\X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ln-f'\fB\-f, \-\-force\fP\X'tty: link'
remove existing destination files
.TP
\X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ln-i'\fB\-i, \-\-interactive\fP\X'tty: link'
prompt whether to remove destinations
.TP
\X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ln-L'\fB\-L, \-\-logical\fP\X'tty: link'
dereference TARGETs that are symbolic links
.TP
\X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ln-n'\fB\-n, \-\-no\-dereference\fP\X'tty: link'
treat LINK_NAME as a normal file
if it is a symbolic link to a directory
.TP
\X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ln-P'\fB\-P, \-\-physical\fP\X'tty: link'
make hard links directly to symbolic links
.TP
\X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ln-r'\fB\-r, \-\-relative\fP\X'tty: link'
with \fB\-s\fR, create links relative to link location
.TP
\X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ln-s'\fB\-s, \-\-symbolic\fP\X'tty: link'
make symbolic links instead of hard links
.TP
\X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ln-S'\fB\-S, \-\-suffix=\,SUFFIX\fP\X'tty: link'\/\fR
override the usual backup suffix
.TP
\X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ln-t'\fB\-t, \-\-target\-directory=\,DIRECTORY\fP\X'tty: link'\/\fR
specify the DIRECTORY in which to create the links
.TP
\X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ln-T'\fB\-T, \-\-no\-target\-directory\fP\X'tty: link'
treat LINK_NAME as a normal file always
.TP
\X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ln-v'\fB\-v, \-\-verbose\fP\X'tty: link'
print name of each linked file
.TP
\X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/ln#ln--help'\fB\-\-help\fP\X'tty: link'
display this help and exit
.TP
\X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/ln#ln--version'\fB\-\-version\fP\X'tty: link'
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:
.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
.PP
Using \fB\-s\fR ignores \fB\-L\fR and \fB\-P\fR. Otherwise, the last option specified controls
behavior when a TARGET is a symbolic link, defaulting to \fB\-P\fR.
.SH AUTHOR
Written by Mike Parker and David MacKenzie.
.SH "REPORTING BUGS"
Report bugs to: bug\-coreutils@gnu.org
.br
GNU coreutils home page: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
.br
General help using GNU software: <https://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>
.br
Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>
.SH COPYRIGHT
Copyright \(co 2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://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"
\fBlink\fP(2), \fBsymlink\fP(2)
.PP
.br
Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/ln>
.br
or available locally via: info \(aq(coreutils) ln invocation\(aq
|
