Linux – How to create symbolic links to all files (class of files) in a directory

bashlinuxsymbolic-link

I would like to create symbolic links (ln -s) to all files (or a class of files, e.g. ending with .bar) in a certain directory.
Say I'm in the cwd and type ls ../source/*.bar gives me 

foo.bar
baz.bar

how can I pass the parameter list to ln -s that it finally resolves to 

ln -s ../source/foo.bar
ln -s ../source/baz.bar

Of course I know I can write a bash script, but there should be something simpler involving xargs or so since it seems to be a common task – at least for me.

Best Answer

ln does take multiple arguments, but don't forget to give a target directory in that case.

So, in your example . is the target directory, so it should be as easy as

ln -s ../source/*.bar .

From man ln; the command above uses the 3rd form:

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)
  • In the 1st form, create a link to TARGET with the name LINK_NAME.
  • In the 2nd form, create a link to TARGET in the current directory.
  • In the 3rd and 4th forms, create links to each TARGET in DIRECTORY.
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