How do I symlink all files from one directory to another in bash?

Question

I want to link ( ln -s ) all files that are in /mnt/usr/lib/ into /usr/lib/

There are lots of files, how can it be done quickly? :)

This is 50:50 whether it would fit "serverfault" or "superuser", but it isn't programming, so not for stackoverflow. — Marc Gravell, Aug 28 '09 at 21:07

score 232 · Answer 1 · 2013-03-04T14:58:49.077

232

ln -s /mnt/usr/lib/* /usr/lib/

I guess, this belongs to superuser, though.

edited Mar 04 '13 at 14:58

answered Aug 28 '09 at 13:52

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This does not include hidden files, and it links whole directories. If either of these is not what you want, see my answer. Otherwise, it's the shortest way. – Cascabel Aug 28 '09 at 14:17
You're right. But libraries aren't hidden usually. In any case dotfiles are involved your solution comes in more handy. – Aug 28 '09 at 14:33
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will it point to the other folder permanently? – nmkyuppie Aug 22 '13 at 08:51
@YuPPie I guess, it just creates hardlink to every file in the directory. (this is what I wanted today, so +1 :D) – Display Name Sep 12 '14 at 18:32
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@SargeBorsch It creates symbolic links (hard links are different). – jsejcksn Jan 23 '16 at 16:55
Yeah, for sure. I was too stupid at these days, now I understand this stuff better. – Display Name Jan 23 '16 at 18:02
2

This is not working for me. I just get * as soft link instead of all files and folders inside lib – Kristi Jorgji Mar 29 '22 at 10:34

score 102 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 20 '15 at 04:46

102

GNU cp has an option to create symlinks instead of copying.

cp -rs /mnt/usr/lib /usr/

Note this is a GNU extension not found in POSIX cp.

edited Jun 20 '15 at 04:46

kkm inactive - support strike

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answered Aug 28 '09 at 14:04

caf

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Your current directory should be /usr/ to make symbolic link this way – Soul_man Apr 10 '13 at 17:03
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@caf If the destination is existing folder, then the lib folder is created inside in /usr/ folder – Tamil Selvan C Aug 24 '17 at 13:06
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Good answer. Can also be used to create hardlinks with -l instead of -s. – Fax Mar 01 '19 at 13:47
Is there an option to copy hidden files as well? – sinekonata Dec 09 '20 at 22:21
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@sinekonata sure you can use `cp -rs /myconfigfolder/. /mynewconfigfolder/` So should everything included hiddenfiles symlinked – Jomaar Feb 02 '22 at 16:47

score 21 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 28 '09 at 14:00

The posted solutions will not link any hidden files. To include them, try this:

cd /usr/lib
find /mnt/usr/lib -maxdepth 1 -print "%P\n" | while read file; do ln -s "/mnt/usr/lib/$file" "$file"; done

If you should happen to want to recursively create the directories and only link files (so that if you create a file within a directory, it really is in /usr/lib not /mnt/usr/lib), you could do this:

cd /usr/lib
find /mnt/usr/lib -mindepth 1 -depth -type d -printf "%P\n" | while read dir; do mkdir -p "$dir"; done
find /mnt/usr/lib -type f -printf "%P\n" | while read file; do ln -s "/mnt/usr/lib/$file" "$file"; done

I believe this should also work as a way to wildcard in hidden files, if you have extended globbing turned on in bash. It matches everything starting with a dot, followed by something other than nothing or another dot (i.e. it excludes `./` and `../`): `ln -s /mnt/usr/lib/.!(|.)* /usr/lib` — Cascabel, Aug 28 '09 at 14:07

score 20 · Answer 4 · edited Aug 18 '19 at 06:33

20

ln -s /mnt/usr/lib/* /usr/lib/

edited Aug 18 '19 at 06:33

Michael Pfaff

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answered Aug 28 '09 at 13:53

Michael Krelin - hacker

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How do I symlink all files from one directory to another in bash?

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