[solved] symbolic linking does not work

[Eraemaajaervi]

Hi,
I'm actually not a newbie to linux/linux mint, but this kind of feels like a newbie question....

I have problems creating symbolic links

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erae@home ~ $ echo "test" > file
erae@home ~ $ ln -s file link && cat link
test
erae@home ~ $ ln -s file dir/link && cat dir/link
cat: dir/link: No such file or directory
erae@home ~ $ ls -l dir/
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 erae erae 4 2009-10-14 20:32 link -> file
erae@home ~ $ ls -ld dir/
drwxr-xr-x 2 erae erae 4096 2009-10-14 20:32 dir/

so why can't I read my symbolic link?
sometimes instead of "No such file...." it says "Too many levels of symbolic links"
hard linking works fine.

any ideas how to fix this?

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erae@home ~ $ uname -a
Linux home 2.6.28-11-generic #42-Ubuntu SMP Fri Apr 17 01:57:59 UTC 2009 i686 GNU/Linux

[Fred]

Eraemaajaervi,

Use the below process to create a symlink.

cd to the directory you are going to make the symlink in.

Use the command: ln -sf target_file/folder_path symlink_filename

Watch your spacing.

Fred

[Kaye]

I was just about to say the same thing.. click post and what do you know, Fred beat me to it

[Eraemaajaervi]

thanks, this worked out.

is there a way to create a symbolic link in a directory other than the current?

[DrHu]

Eraemaajaervi,
Use the below process to create a symlink.
cd to the directory you are going to make the symlink in.
Use the command: ln -sf target_file/folder_path symlink_filename
Watch your spacing.
Fred

Fred's advice was just to make it easy (for sure) to work, by first Changing Directory (CD to the target for the softlink (ln -s)

Just include the complete path, you might need to escape any entries, depending on how they are being named, Linux cannot use spaces in names unless escaped \ or quote 'lastname test direct'

In terminal, check

• man ln

--will give you the command line options for the ln (link) command
--a careful reading should help
http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/unix-creat ... n-command/
http://linux-programming.suite101.com/a ... nk_with_ln
http://tldp.org/LDP/LG/current/staff.html

[Lantesh]

If you don't want to use the terminal you can click and drag. Open two seperate Nautilus windows side by side, one with the original file, and the other showing the directory you want to place the sym link in. Now click down and hold the center mouse button on the original file, and drag it over to the other window where you want the sym link. Let go and a menu will pop up showing the option to make the link. Lastly rename the new sym link to whatever you want to call it.

[mick55]

Right on Lantesh, thats the method i use to create shortcuts to my playlists.
Works like a champ.

[Lantesh]

Yeah the terminal is obviously a powerful tool, but sometimes you just can't beat a simple click and drag.

[Kaye]

The funny thing is, I didn't even think about a GUI solution when I read this post.

I'll take that as a sign that I'm becoming more of a purist

[Eraemaajaervi]

@DrHu:
But as you can see in my example I haven't been using any spaces or non-alphabetical characters.

@Lantesh:
The GUI is not s solution for me here (although it seems pretty nice) because I want to use this for a little script