3 ms·
I could memorize it from the moment I realized that it works exactly like 'cp', i.e. cp <orig> <copy> Hence I think of it as ln <orig> <link> (edit: for
by larelli 14y ago
I could memorize it from the moment I realized that it works exactly like 'cp', i.e.
cp <orig> <copy>
Hence I think of it as
ln <orig> <link>
(edit: formatting)
- kanzure 14y agoNow, why isn't that in the ln man pages?
- readme 14y agoIt is. SYNOPSIS ln [OPTION]... [-T] TARGET LINK_NAME (1st form) He just replaced TARGET with 'orig'
- jrockway 14y agoThe confusion comes from understanding what the target of a link is. Of course, it's not the new file you're creating, it's the source. But if you were copying the file, then the target would be the destination. Hence the confusion, I guess. (I don't think I've ever read the ln man page. I learned it by trying it both ways until I learned which way was correct.)
- readme 14y agoI admit it's confusing, but I don't think it can be put much more succinctly than the man page makes it. The part where the name of the link itself is called "link name" really drives the point home. I definitely refer to ln more than any other man page... Every time I use ln I say "target, link name" in my head.
- biot 14y agoOpenBSD always has great documentation: http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=ln http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=ln SYNOPSIS ln [-fhns] source [target] ln [-fs] source ... [directory] Not to mention the detailed description as well as informative examples.
- hartror 14y agoThat is how I did it.