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<div class="SECT1">
<h1 class="SECT1"><a id="FILE-COMMANDS-LINK" name="FILE-COMMANDS-LINK">10.7 Aliasing
files with <tt class="COMMAND">ln</tt></a></h1>

<p><tt class="COMMAND">ln</tt>(1) is used to create links between files. These links can
be either hard links or soft (symbolic) links. The differences between the two kinds of
links were discussed in <a href="filesystem-structure-links.html">Section 9.3</a>. If you
wanted to make a symbolic link to the directory <tt class="FILENAME">/var/media/mp3</tt>
and place the link in your home directory, you would do this:</p>

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<samp class="PROMPT">%</samp> <kbd class="USERINPUT">ln -s /var/media/mp3 ~/mp3</kbd>
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<p>The <var class="OPTION">-s</var> option tells <tt class="COMMAND">ln</tt> to make a
symbolic link. The next option is the target of the link, and the final option is what to
call the link. In this case, it will just make a file called <tt
class="FILENAME">mp3</tt> in your home directory that points to <tt
class="FILENAME">/var/media/mp3</tt>. You can call the link itself whatever you want by
just changing the last option.</p>

<p>Making a hard link is just as simple. All you have to do is leave off the <var
class="OPTION">-s</var> option. Hard links may not normally refer to directories or span
file systems, however. To create a hard link <tt class="FILENAME">/usr/bin/email</tt> to
<tt class="FILENAME">/usr/bin/mutt</tt>, simply type the following:</p>

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<samp class="PROMPT">#</samp> <kbd
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