Editing Ln (Unix) (section)

==Use ==
Per the [[Single Unix Specification]], the {{code|ln}} command is specified in the Shell and Utilities (XCU) document.<ref name=SUSOverview>{{cite web|title=The Single UNIX Specification, Version 4 - Overview|url=http://www.unix.org/version4/overview.html|website=unix.org|publisher=unix.org|access-date=7 August 2015}}</ref> [[POSIX]] includes a similar specification.<ref name=SUS>{{man|1|ln|SUS}}</ref>

If neither target file nor target directory are specified, links are created in the current [[working directory]].

===Options===

The specification indicates command line options that must be supported:

* {{code|-f}} (force) [[clobbering|Clobbers]] an existing file if the output path specifies an existing file
* {{code|-L}} If a source operand specifies a symbolic link, create a hard link to the link's target file
* {{code|-P}} If a source operand specifies a symbolic link, create a hard link to the symbolic link file
* {{code|-s}} Create symbolic links instead of hard links; causes {{code|-L}} and {{code|-P}} to be silently ignored

If more than one of the mutually-exclusive options {{code|-L}} and {{code|-P}} is specified, the last option specified determines the resulting behavior.

If the {{code|-s}} option is not specified and neither a {{code|-L}} nor a {{code|-P}} option is specified, the implementation defines which of the {{code|-L}} and {{code|-P}} options is used by default.

===Single file invocation===
The command creates a new link to the path indicated by {{code|source}}; stored at the path indicated by {{code|target}}. The syntax is as follows:

<syntaxhighlight lang="terminal">
ln [-fs] [-L|-P] source target
</syntaxhighlight>

===Multiple file invocation===
The command creates a new link to each file specified by the {{code|source_#}} operands; stored in an existing directory indicated by {{code|target_dir}}.

<syntaxhighlight lang="terminal">
ln [-fs] [-L|-P] source_1 source_2 ... target_dir
</syntaxhighlight>