LINK   (2) manpage
LINK
2
1997-12-10
Linux 2.0.30
Linux Programmer's Manual
  • NAME
      link - make a new name for a file
  • SYNOPSIS
      #include <unistd.h>

      int link(const char * oldpath , const char * newpath );
  • DESCRIPTION
      link creates a new link (also known as a hard link) to an existing file.
      If newpath exists it will not be overwritten.
      This new name may be used exactly as the old one for any operation; both names refer to the same file (and so have the same permissions and ownership) and it is impossible to tell which name was the `original'.
  • RETURN VALUE
      On success, zero is returned.  On error, -1 is returned, and errno is set appropriately.
  • ERRORS
      EXDEV
      oldpath " and " newpath are not on the same filesystem.
      EPERM
      The filesystem containing oldpath " and " newpath does not support the creation of hard links.
      EFAULT
      oldpath " or " newpath " points outside your accessible address space."
      EACCES
      Write access to the directory containing newpath is not allowed for the process's effective uid, or one of the directories in oldpath " or " newpath did not allow search (execute) permission.
      ENAMETOOLONG
      oldpath " or " newpath " was too long."
      ENOENT
      A directory component in oldpath " or " newpath does not exist or is a dangling symbolic link.
      ENOTDIR
      A component used as a directory in oldpath " or " newpath is not, in fact, a directory.
      ENOMEM
      Insufficient kernel memory was available.
      EROFS
      The file is on a read-only filesystem.
      EEXIST
      newpath already exists.
      EMLINK
      The file referred to by oldpath already has the maximum number of links to it.
      ELOOP
      Too many symbolic links were encountered in resolving oldpath " or " newpath .
      ENOSPC
      The device containing the file has no room for the new directory entry.
      EPERM
      oldpath is a directory.
      EIO
      An I/O error occurred.
  • NOTES
      Hard links, as created by link , cannot span filesystems. Use symlink if this is required.
  • CONFORMING TO
      SVr4, SVID, POSIX, BSD 4.3, X/OPEN.  SVr4 documents additional ENOLINK and EMULTIHOP error conditions; POSIX.1 does not document ELOOP. X/OPEN does not document EFAULT, ENOMEM or EIO.
  • BUGS
      On NFS file systems, the return code may be wrong in case the NFS server performs the link creation and dies before it can say so.  Use stat(2) to find out if the link got created.
  • SEE ALSO
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