Ever get irritated while traversing long paths in the IFS root file system? Create a shortcut to get there faster--and learn a little UNIX to boot.

UNIX practitioners know that the ln -scommand generates a symbolic link, a shortcut to a file or file path. On iSeries, the command is available through Qshell.

Here's the command syntax:
ln -s ActualFilename LinkFileName

ActualFilename is the name of the file that is to be linked to, and LinkFileName is the shortcut's name.

Let's take a simple example, using ln –s to shorten the path of a Web server's log folder.

The command wrklnk '/www/test/logs' shows us the logs using the original, long folder path (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: wrklnk '/www/test/logs' displays our Web server log files.

Use qsh to launch the Qshell command line:
qsh

ln -s creates a symbolic link from /www/test/logs to a shorter path, /tlogs:
ln -s /www/test/logs /tlogs

Exit lets us leave the Qshell command line:
exit

Now, view the logs again with a much shorter path, /tlogs:
wrklnk '/tlogs'
Success! Figure 2 shows that the shortcut gives the same result as the longer path did in Figure 1.

Figure 2: wrklnk '/tlogs' shows the same files that wrklnk '/www/test/logs' did before.

The root-level shortcut /tlogs can also be viewed from other IFS interfaces, such as iSeries Navigator, as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3: These views show the original path, /www/test/logs, and the shortcut path, /tlogs, from iSeries Navigator.

For more information, see the ln command reference.

  Alan Seiden founded Seiden Group to help IBM i shops design and implement high-performance web and mobile applications using PHP, DB2, RPG business logic and Zend Framework best practices. Alan and his team work closely with some of the best minds at both Zend and IBM on behalf of their clients.With a passion for open source and community, Alan co-developed the popular PHP Toolkit with IBM. He was one of the first Zend Framework certified engineers; co-founder of the NYC Zend Framework Meetup; charter member of IBM/COMMON's PHP Advisory Board; and a consultant for IBM's manual PHP: Zend Core for i5/OS. An award-winning speaker, Alan has been called "the performance guru of PHP on IBM i." He shares his expertise regularly at conferences and user groups such COMMON, ZendCon, the RPG & DB2 Summit, OMNI, the Northeast Users Group Conference, OCEAN and WMCPA. He also mentors other developers within the Club Seiden forum.In his spare time, Alan plays the trombone and studies and teaches the Feldenkrais Method® of Somatic Education.Subscribe to Alan’s monthly newsletter PHP on IBM i Tips.  Follow Alan on Twitter: @alanseiden and LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/alanseidenMore on Alan