Nope, you will, like me, overwrite your files until the day we die

It’s the same as cp or mv. Source dest.

@fell @linuxquestions IIRC it is just like with cp:

cp some_existing_file new_file
ln -s some_existing_file new_file

Link shoots his target before asking for names.

The order is source target, just like with cp. "source" is the existing thing and "target" is the new thing.

I've been using linux for a long time and I still mix it up. I just check tldr before typing the command.

If you're gonna need that only for your machine, you can easily create aliases that can you can remember.

I'm glad to see I'm not the only person who can never remember this. The docs don't help me either, I have to just try stuff

I remember it because it has the one-arg form which only takes the target, so that's the first arg. Good luck!

All this stuff about source and destination and target or whatever hasn't helped me because those terms are too confusing when it comes to what they do with links. I like to think of it as hitching a new car onto a train. ln is the locomotive, the car that's already there comes next, and then you link the new one to it.

You presumably have a common usage for it, why not create an alias for that usage?

I think of it in terms of the cp command: Source first, followed by destination. The last argument is always the new file/link you are creating.

@fell@ma.fellr.net After using unix (mostly not linux!) for 10 years I found that I just knew it and always got it right. I haven't had to think about ln in the last 20 years - my fingers just work. I guess that is one advantage to getting older/wiser. (I'm just hoping I don't get cognitive decline like so many do, though probably I wouldn't for 20-30 more years)