Below is the text in question from the manuaul.
--dereference-command-line-symlink-to-dirDo not dereference symbolic links, with one exception: if a command line argument specifies a symbolic link that refers to a directory, show information for that directory rather than for the link itself. This is the default behavior when no other dereferencing-related option has been specified (
--classify(-F),--directory(-d), (-l),--dereference(-L), or--dereference-command-line(-H)).
Below are some commands I ran on my terminal.
$ touch myfile.txt
$ ln --symbolic myfile.txt symlink_myfile
$ ls --classify symlink_myfile
symlink_myfile@If the default behavior is to not dereference symbolic links unless a dereferencing-related option has been specified, then why does ls --classify produce 'symlink_myfile@'?
A dereferencing option, --classify, was specified so my symbolic link should have been dereferenced.
1 Answer
The man page for ls (and most other GNU programs) is only a very simplified summary. In your case, it says that --dereference-command-line-symlink-to-dir is the default unless a dereferencing-related option such as -F is given, but it does not say what happens about dereferencing when -F is given (so it is not wrong, merely incomplete). The entry about -F is not helpful either:
-F, --classify append indicator (one of */=>@|) to entriesMore helpful information is available in the full documentation, which can be accessed with info ls or online:
‘-F’
‘--classify’
‘--indicator-style=classify’ Append a character to each file name indicating the file type. Also, for regular files that are executable, append ‘*’. The file type indicators are ‘/’ for directories, ‘@’ for symbolic links, ‘|’ for FIFOs, ‘=’ for sockets, ‘>’ for doors, and nothing for regular files. Do not follow symbolic links listed on the command line unless the ‘--dereference-command-line’ (‘-H’), ‘--dereference’ (‘-L’), or ‘--dereference-command-line-symlink-to-dir’ options are specified.So -F does not dereference by default.
