std::filesystem::create_hard_link

 

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Technical specifications

Symbols index

External libraries

 

Filesystem library

Classes
filesystem::path filesystem::filesystem_error filesystem::directory_entry filesystem::directory_iterator filesystem::recursive_directory_iterator      filesystem::file_status	filesystem::space_info filesystem::file_type filesystem::perms filesystem::perm_options filesystem::copy_options filesystem::directory_options filesystem::file_time_type
Functions
filesystem::absolute filesystem::canonicalfilesystem::weakly_canonical filesystem::relativefilesystem::proximate filesystem::copy filesystem::copy_file filesystem::copy_symlink filesystem::create_directory filesystem::create_directories filesystem::create_hard_link filesystem::create_symlink filesystem::create_directory_symlink filesystem::current_path	filesystem::exists filesystem::equivalent filesystem::file_size filesystem::hard_link_count filesystem::last_write_time filesystem::permissions filesystem::read_symlink filesystem::remove filesystem::remove_all filesystem::rename filesystem::resize_file filesystem::space filesystem::status filesystem::symlink_status filesystem::temp_directory_path
File types
filesystem::is_block_file filesystem::is_character_file filesystem::is_directory filesystem::is_empty filesystem::status_known	filesystem::is_fifo filesystem::is_other filesystem::is_regular_file filesystem::is_socket filesystem::is_symlink

 

Defined in header <filesystem>
void create_hard_link( const std::filesystem::path& target,                        const std::filesystem::path& link ); void create_hard_link( const std::filesystem::path& target,                        const std::filesystem::path& link,                        std::error_code& ec ) noexcept;		(since C++17)

Creates a hard link link with its target set to target as if by POSIX link(): the pathname target must exist.

Once created, link and target are two logical names that refer to the same file (they are equivalent). Even if the original name target is deleted, the file continues to exist and is accessible as link.

Parameters

target	-	path of the file or directory to link to
link	-	path of the new hard link
ec	-	out-parameter for error reporting in the non-throwing overload

Return value

(none)

Exceptions

The overload that does not take a std::error_code& parameter throws filesystem::filesystem_error on underlying OS API errors, constructed with target as the first path argument, link as the second path argument, and the OS error code as the error code argument. The overload taking a std::error_code& parameter sets it to the OS API error code if an OS API call fails, and executes ec.clear() if no errors occur. Any overload not marked noexcept may throw std::bad_alloc if memory allocation fails.

Notes

Some operating systems do not support hard links at all or support them only for regular files.

Some file systems do not support hard links regardless of the operating system: the FAT file system used on memory cards and flash drives, for example.

Some file systems limit the number of links per file.

Hardlinking to directories is typically restricted to the superuser.

Hard links typically cannot cross filesystem boundaries.

The special pathname dot (".") is a hard link to its parent directory. The special pathname dot-dot ".." is a hard link to the directory that is the parent of its parent.

Example

Run this code

#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <filesystem>
namespace fs = std::filesystem;
 
int main()
{
    fs::create_directories("sandbox/subdir");
    std::ofstream("sandbox/a").put('a'); // create regular file
    fs::create_hard_link("sandbox/a", "sandbox/b");
    fs::remove("sandbox/a");
    // read from the original file via surviving hard link
    char c = std::ifstream("sandbox/b").get();
    std::cout << c << '\n';
    fs::remove_all("sandbox");
}

Output:

a

See also

create_symlinkcreate_directory_symlink (C++17)(C++17)	creates a symbolic link (function)
hard_link_count (C++17)	returns the number of hard links referring to the specific file (function)