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Below is my code for creating a symlink of a directory:

sudo ln -s /usr/local/nginx/conf/ /etc/nginx

I already created the directory /etc/nginx. I just want the contents of the source directory (/usr/local/nginx/conf/) to be in the contents of the target directory (/etc/nginx). But when I execute the code, /etc/nginx contains a directory called conf, instead of the contents of conf. That directory contains the contents I want, but in the wrong location.

Why did it put a directory in the target folder, instead of just putting the contents of the directory in the target folder?

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  • You can also use Files (default file browser). Right click on the folder you want to link > "Make Link" option. It will create linked folder which you can move and rename as you need.
    – John Linhart
    Commented Jun 5, 2014 at 12:58
  • 4
    Use linux bind mount feature. example
    – gkiko
    Commented Dec 5, 2015 at 19:09

3 Answers 3

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This is the behavior of ln if the second arg is a directory. It places a link to the first arg inside it. If you want /etc/nginx to be the symlink, you should remove that directory first and run that same command.

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That's what ln is documented to do when the target already exists and is a directory. If you want /etc/nginx to be a symlink rather than contain a symlink, you had better not create it as a directory first!

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  • 52
    Your answer only makes sense in the context of the reader already knowing the answer. It is useless to anyone who would ask the question
    – Ricardo Saporta
    Commented May 1, 2013 at 5:31
  • 1
    Can I actually create a symlink to a root of a mounted USB device (thus I cannot erase this folder first)?
    – Grigory Kornilov
    Commented Mar 24, 2015 at 19:02
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    @GrigoryKornilov you can create a symlink to anything you want, including something that doesn't exist. This question was rather about the place where the symlink is created (not where it points to). A particular pathname in the filesystem is either a regular file or it is a directory or it is a symlink (or it is a socket or pipe or device). It cannot be more than one of those things at the same time (i.e. you cannot have more than one distinct file with the exact same name).
    – Celada
    Commented Mar 25, 2015 at 0:23
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In script is useful something like this:

if [ ! -d /etc/nginx ]; then ln -s /usr/local/nginx/conf/ /etc/nginx > /dev/null 2>&1; fi

it prevents before re-create "bad" looped symlink after re-run script

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    Excellent! This is the exact solution. no need to create the directory if it already existing. It's a real good tweak to hard link and sink it in the blackhole(/dev/null)
    – Arun Panneerselvam
    Commented Apr 1, 2020 at 15:13