.TH LN 1 
.SH NAME
ln \- make links
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B ln
[
.B \-s
]
name1 [ name2 ]
.br
.B ln
name ... directory
.SH DESCRIPTION
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.
.PP
By default
.I ln
makes hard links.
A hard link to a file is indistinguishable from the
original directory entry; changes to the
file are effective regardless of the name used
to reference the file.
Hard links may not span file systems and may not refer to directories.
.PP
The
.B \-s
option makes symbolic links.
A symbolic link contains the name of the file to
which it is linked.
Except in special cases, such as
.IR rm (1),
.IR unlink (2),
.I lstat,
and
.I readlink,
the contents of a symbolic link is taken as the pathname
of the file.
Symbolic links may span file systems and may refer to directories.
.PP
Given one or two nondirectory arguments,
the second not being a directory,
.I ln
makes a link to an existing file
.IR name1 .
If
.I name2
is given, the link has that name, otherwise
.I name2
is understood to be the same as the last component of 
.I name1.
.PP
Given two or more arguments, the last being a directory,
.I ln
makes therein links to all the named files.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
rm(1), cp(1), mv(1), link(2), stat(2)