Linking Files

This section will discuss how to create links or short cuts to files and/or directories. Links are a handy way to create your own user-friendly name for a command. You can also use links to quickly get to a long path name.

As a old unix user, I like to use the command pg instead of the Linux command less. By creating a link from 'less' to 'pg', everytime I enter 'pg', Linux actually uses the 'less' command.

ln creates standard or symbolic links.

Note: Make sure the name you are linking to does not already exist!

Options	What it does
-s	Will create a symbolic link
directory or file name	name of existing path, directory or file name
directory or file name	new linked name

Examples	What it does
ln /usr/bin/less /usr/bin/pg	Links pg to less
ln -s /var/log /logs	Creates a symbolic link '/logs' to the directory '/var/log'. If you enter 'cd /logs', you are actually in the directory '/var/log'.