LINK(8) Maintenance Procedures LINK(8)

NAME

link, unlink - link and unlink files and directories

SYNOPSIS

/usr/sbin/link existing-file new-file


/usr/xpg4/bin/link existing-file new-file


/usr/sbin/unlink file

DESCRIPTION

The link and unlink commands link and unlink files and directories. Only
super-users can use these commands on directories.


Use link to create a new file that points to an existing file. The
existing-file and new-file operands specify the existing file and
newly-created files. See OPERANDS.


link and unlink directly invoke the link(2) and unlink(2) system calls,
performing exactly what they are told to do and abandoning all error
checking. This differs from the ln(1) command. See ln(1).


While linked files and directories can be removed using unlink, it is
safer to use rm(1) and rmdir(1) instead. See rm(1) and rmdir(1).

/usr/xpg4/bin/link
If the existing file being hard linked is itself a symbolic link, then
the newly created file (new-file) will be a hard link to the file
referenced by the symbolic link, not to the symbolic link object itself
(existing-file).

OPERANDS

The following operands are supported:

existing-file
Specifies the name of the existing file to be linked.


file
Specifies the name of the file to be unlinked.


new-file
Specifies the name of newly created (linked) file.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

See environ(7) for descriptions of the following environment variables
that affect the execution of link: LANG, LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES,
and NLSPATH.

ATTRIBUTES

See attributes(7) for descriptions of the following attributes:

/usr/xpg4/bin/link


+--------------------+-----------------+
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+--------------------+-----------------+
|Interface Stability | Standard |
+--------------------+-----------------+

SEE ALSO

ln(1), rm(1), link(2), unlink(2), attributes(7), environ(7), standards(7)


October 9, 2002 LINK(8)