How to create a soft or symbolic link?

Question

I am installing p4v in /opt, but /usr/bin is on my path. Is it possible to create a soft or symbolic link for p4v from /opt to /usr/bin, so I can just type "p4v" since /usr/bin is in my path?

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1951742/how-to-symlink-a-file-in-linux — Dante, Aug 08 '16 at 11:21

score 910 · Accepted Answer · edited Sep 20 '18 at 17:27

910

See man ln.

To create a symlink at /usr/bin/bar which references the original file /opt/foo, use:

ln -s /opt/foo /usr/bin/bar

You would need to apply the above command as root (i.e. with sudo).

edited Sep 20 '18 at 17:27

CentaurusA

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answered Aug 08 '11 at 19:20

Michał Šrajer

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I am using: `sudo ln –s /etc/apache2/sites-available/redmine /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-redmine` getting error: `ln: target '/etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-redmine' is not a directory` – RAJ ... Aug 04 '12 at 07:29
@RAJ...: Perhaps an example can help `ln -s /etc/vim/vimrc /home/paf/Copy/Programming/Apps/Tools/Vim` – pablofiumara Nov 11 '13 at 18:31
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The Ubuntu documentation says " Creates hard links by default, symbolic links with --symbolic." Will the above solution create a symbolic link as asked by OP? – dev May 26 '15 at 05:27
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I though César wanted to put his files in the /opt and /usr/bin to have the symbolic link, not other way around. – mishap Nov 26 '15 at 23:41
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@mishap is right as far as I'm concerned. It's the other way around. – Daniel Szmulewicz Dec 18 '15 at 17:05
Could you explain what is a link that is not symbolic? What is the difference between `ls file ../other` and `cp file ../other`. I was missing the `-s` option for quite some time now and got frustrated... – Augustin Riedinger Jun 01 '16 at 07:30
@AugustinRiedinger see: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/185899/what-is-the-difference-between-a-symbolic-link-and-a-hard-link and http://askubuntu.com/questions/108771/what-is-the-difference-between-a-hard-link-and-a-symbolic-link – Michał Šrajer Jun 02 '16 at 14:13
is this answer not backwards????????? not just for the OP, but for anyone trying to use it??? – Andrew Feb 24 '18 at 02:14
@Andrew This is correct for creating a symbolic link `/usr/bin/bar` that points to file/folder `/opt/foo`. Per 'man ln`, the target file/folder comes first, then the link name: `ln [OPTION]... [-T] TARGET LINK_NAME (1st form)` – kevinmicke Mar 07 '18 at 20:18
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@kevinmicke after your explanation finally realized that the explanation of the answer was stated in reverse order from the command, making my brain (and others') read it backwards – Andrew Mar 07 '18 at 21:00
Note that target must be absolute not relative paths – Diego Andrés Díaz Espinoza Sep 14 '18 at 01:13
__NOTE__: Pay attention in creating links with relative paths; you must make the target relative to the link itself, not the directory you're running the command. – MAChitgarha Jan 25 '19 at 13:40

score 60 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 03 '14 at 19:39

60

The error is that you are writing the command wrong. The correct way is

ln -s /<full>/<path>/<to>/<file> /usr/local/bin

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2001697

edited Apr 03 '14 at 19:39

Eric Carvalho

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answered Apr 03 '14 at 19:15

Pedro Arnoldo Machado Duran

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Note the leading foreslash `/` – mace Mar 05 '19 at 07:50
Thanks, I totally missed that I needed the absolute path to the linked file. – Andy R Jun 14 '19 at 08:58

dv3500ea · Answer 3 · 2011-08-08T19:48:42.627

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If the 'p4v' executable is at /opt/bin/p4v, you can simply run:

sudo ln -s /opt/bin/p4v /usr/bin/p4v
sudo chmod ugo+x /usr/bin/p4v

It would be better to add /opt/bin (or wherever the executable is) to your path:

echo "export PATH=\$PATH:/opt/bin" >> ~/.profile
reset

edited Aug 08 '11 at 19:48

answered Aug 08 '11 at 19:23

dv3500ea

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`~/.profile` would be better for setting `$PATH`. – Lekensteyn Aug 08 '11 at 19:30
you can edit `/etc/environment` to modify PATH system wide. – Michał Šrajer Aug 08 '11 at 19:44

score 6 · Answer 4 · edited Jun 25 '15 at 00:19

6

Check the software location by this.

which application-name #replace for the application you are looking for

for example

which skype

output will be this.

/usr/bin/skype

To create the soft link. for example you want to create the soft link for skype on your desktop

ln -s /usr/bin/skype ~/Desktop/

For more information about ln.

man ln

or

ln --help

edited Jun 25 '15 at 00:19

Alexandre

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answered Jun 24 '15 at 19:41

Hafiz Shehbaz Ali

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score 5 · Answer 5 · edited Oct 02 '18 at 05:52

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This template was more helpful for me than the above answers. Probably not more correct, just less obfuscated:

ln -s <path/to/real/file-or-folder> <symlink path>

Just replace the parts in <>'s

edited Oct 02 '18 at 05:52

earthmeLon

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answered Oct 01 '18 at 18:24

LucasY

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score 4 · Answer 6 · edited Mar 07 '18 at 07:36

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ln -s -n ./TargetDirectory ./Nickname

Note, this works if you both nodes are below you in the same tree. You can use relative notation

-s command makes it a symbolic link
-n makes it possible de create a folder-type symlink

edited Mar 07 '18 at 07:36

muru

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answered Dec 11 '17 at 23:32

Mohamad El Boudi

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Welcome to askubuntu.com. In this case the `$` to indicate a command line prompt is a style choice, and not likely to be a problem. However bear in mind that including things in a code block other than the code and its output can cause confusion. – J. Starnes Dec 12 '17 at 00:42

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Apr 17 '18 at 17:06

I have found that it is easier to go to where you want the link to be and then create the link using sudo ln -s /path/to/source/file, than doing ln -s target source.

So in your case I would do cd /usr/bin then sudo ln -s /opt/bin/pv4. The other way has not been working in my case.

score 0 · Answer 8 · edited Nov 09 '17 at 06:27

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If it is saying target is not a folder, it means there are spaces in your folder names eg: New Folder has a space

You need to edit the path and add a backslash \ after every space in the paths

eg:

ln -s /opt/bin /usr/var/New\ Folder

edited Nov 09 '17 at 06:27

derHugo

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answered Nov 09 '17 at 04:43

Sam

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This is not an answer to the OPs question. Please wait until you have enough reputation to add comments. – derHugo Nov 09 '17 at 05:59

How to create a soft or symbolic link?

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