Method: FileUtils.symlink

Defined in:
lib/fileutils.rb

Creates symbolic links.

Arguments src (a single path or an array of paths) and dest (a single path) should be interpretable as paths.

If src is the path to an existing file:

  • When dest is the path to a non-existent file, creates a symbolic link at dest pointing to src:

    FileUtils.touch('src0.txt')
File.exist?('dest0.txt')   # => false
FileUtils.ln_s('src0.txt', 'dest0.txt')
File.symlink?('dest0.txt') # => true

  • When dest is the path to an existing file, creates a symbolic link at dest pointing to src if and only if keyword argument force: true is given (raises an exception otherwise):

    FileUtils.touch('src1.txt')
FileUtils.touch('dest1.txt')
FileUtils.ln_s('src1.txt', 'dest1.txt', force: true)
FileTest.symlink?('dest1.txt') # => true

FileUtils.ln_s('src1.txt', 'dest1.txt') # Raises Errno::EEXIST.

If dest is the path to a directory, creates a symbolic link at dest/src pointing to src:

FileUtils.touch('src2.txt')
FileUtils.mkdir('destdir2')
FileUtils.ln_s('src2.txt', 'destdir2')
File.symlink?('destdir2/src2.txt') # => true

If src is an array of paths to existing files and dest is a directory, for each child child in src creates a symbolic link dest/child pointing to child:

FileUtils.mkdir('srcdir3')
FileUtils.touch('srcdir3/src0.txt')
FileUtils.touch('srcdir3/src1.txt')
FileUtils.mkdir('destdir3')
FileUtils.ln_s(['srcdir3/src0.txt', 'srcdir3/src1.txt'], 'destdir3')
File.symlink?('destdir3/src0.txt') # => true
File.symlink?('destdir3/src1.txt') # => true

Keyword arguments:

  • force: true - overwrites dest if it exists.

  • relative: false - create links relative to dest.

  • noop: true - does not create links.

  • verbose: true - prints an equivalent command:

    FileUtils.ln_s('src0.txt', 'dest0.txt', noop: true, verbose: true)
FileUtils.ln_s('src1.txt', 'destdir1', noop: true, verbose: true)
FileUtils.ln_s('src2.txt', 'dest2.txt', force: true, noop: true, verbose: true)
FileUtils.ln_s(['srcdir3/src0.txt', 'srcdir3/src1.txt'], 'destdir3', noop: true, verbose: true)

    Output:

    ln -s src0.txt dest0.txt
ln -s src1.txt destdir1
ln -sf src2.txt dest2.txt
ln -s srcdir3/src0.txt srcdir3/src1.txt destdir3

Related: FileUtils.ln_sf.



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# File 'lib/fileutils.rb', line 720

def ln_s(src, dest, force: nil, relative: false, target_directory: true, noop: nil, verbose: nil)
  if relative
    return ln_sr(src, dest, force: force, noop: noop, verbose: verbose)
  end
  fu_output_message "ln -s#{force ? 'f' : ''} #{[src,dest].flatten.join ' '}" if verbose
  return if noop
  fu_each_src_dest0(src, dest) do |s,d|
    remove_file d, true if force
    File.symlink s, d
  end
end