LinuxQuestions.org - [SOLVED] ln with -t option, to create relative symlink not working

- Linux - Newbie (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-newbie-8/)

- - ln with -t option, to create relative symlink not working (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-newbie-8/ln-with-t-option-to-create-relative-symlink-not-working-4175534170/)

ln with -t option, to create relative symlink not working

I'm trying to recreate a relative symlink, to link "asymlink" to "somedir/actualfile" in /root/test/ but its creating 2 symlinks instead.

Code:

[root]# ln -t /root/test/ -s somedir/actualfile asymlink

[root]# ll /root/test/

total 4

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  18 Feb 16 06:15 actualfile -> somedir/actualfile

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root    8 Feb 16 06:15 asymlink -> asymlink

drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Feb 16 06:15 somedir

I can do it with

Code:

cd /root/test

ln -s somedir/actualfile asymlink

but I'm trying to avoid the cd, and also avoid using the full path.

Does anyone know why the -t flag isn't working as expected?

ln <source file> -s <target file>
use both source and target with full path
Is that what you are looking for?

From man ln:

Code:

SYNOPSIS

      ln [OPTION]... [-T] TARGET LINK_NAME  (1st form)

      ln [OPTION]... TARGET                  (2nd form)

      ln [OPTION]... TARGET... DIRECTORY    (3rd form)

      ln [OPTION]... -t DIRECTORY TARGET...  (4th form)

You are using the 4th form. Both "somedir/actualfile" and "asymlink" are treated as targets. You can't both use -t and specify link name.
You can do the following, though, to avoid the cd:

Code:

ln -s somedir/actualfile /root/test/asymlink

Code:

ln -s somedir/actualfile /root/test/asymlink

That worked, thanks!