diff bet ln and cp

whats ln command? whats its use?????
whats the diff bet ln command and cp command.

ln creates a link(reference) to file
cp creates a new copy of a file in the destination

how ln works.

when i tried the command
$ ln j4.log empty2

It showed

ln: creating hard link `empty2' to `j4.log': File exists

even the referenced file has the contents in it which is same as the original file. So whts the diff? can u pls xplain.....

I got the difference between cp and ln.

After creating a link,when you modify the original file it reflects in the referenced file and viceversa.

This wont happen with the cp command.

i think....

its not possible to link a file to another file which already exists.
if we dont specify the type of link it by default creates the hard link.
the other is the soft(symbolic) link for which the option -s is used.

ln with no options creates a hard link, ln -f forces a hard link, ln -s creates a symbolic link, and ln -fs forces a symbolic link.

Can u pls tel me what wud be the cmd for exercise lab session1-->
q.10: Create a link 'tmp' under FIN directory for matter,which is another directory..

ln name of another directory/matter tmp

this is the syntax.

Eg :- 335818
/ \
FIN HRD
\
matter
Say your directory structure is

suppose I am in directory FIN and matter is in directory HRD, then the command would be

ln ~-/HRD/matter tmp

~- refers to previous directory

to be more specific, "~-" stands for previous working directory not previous directory.

Code:

$ ln ~-/HRD/matter tmp

the above command wont work in all situations. its better to use

Code:

$ ln /335818/HRD/matter tmp

If I try the cmd the above cmd, i get dis error msg:
ln: accessing `/home/335837/hrd/HRD/matter': No such file or directory
What is it that is happening?

check the path.

since ur already in 335837 directory..../335837/hrd/matter tries to search for another 335837 directory within 335837....so try
ln hrd/HRD/matter tmp

where hrd is a directory within 335837......

nice explanation about hard link and symbolic link is given in wikipidea..