To create a soft link we use the same command we use to create a hard link, except that we use the -s flag. Again we make a link from a source name to a destination name. Let's create a soft link:
$ln -s a e $ls -F a c data/ junk/ b d e@ programs/ $ls -l total 3 -rw------- 2 markst staff 0 Jan 21 17:13 a -rw------- 1 markst staff 0 Jan 21 17:07 b -rw------- 1 markst staff 0 Jan 21 17:07 c -rw------- 2 markst staff 0 Jan 21 17:13 d drwx------ 3 markst staff 1024 Feb 6 20:47 data/ lrwxrwxrwx 1 markst staff 1 Mar 5 20:03 e -> a drwx------ 2 markst staff 1024 Jan 21 17:11 junk/ drwx------ 2 markst staff 1024 Feb 6 21:16 programs/ $
In the short directory listing our new soft link has been marked with a '', to show it is a soft link. In our long directory listing we can see 'e' is a link by the link attribute in the first column and by the '-> a' which shows where the link goes to.