Android™

Create a Symbolic Link on an SFTP Server

Demonstrates the Chilkat SFtp.SymLink method, which creates a symbolic link on the server. The first argument is the link target and the second is the new symbolic-link path.

Background: A symbolic link stores a path that points at another location, so it can span directories or filesystems and can even point at something that does not exist. A common use is a stable name like latest.log that is repointed at each day's file. Argument order is a frequent source of confusion — the target comes first, the new link path second — and note that how the target string is interpreted (relative to what) is up to the server's implementation.

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// Important: Don't forget to include the call to System.loadLibrary
// as shown at the bottom of this code sample.
package com.test;

import android.app.Activity;
import com.chilkatsoft.*;

import android.widget.TextView;
import android.os.Bundle;

public class SimpleActivity extends Activity {

  private static final String TAG = "Chilkat";

  // Called when the activity is first created.
  @Override
  public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

    boolean success = false;

    //  Demonstrates the SFtp.SymLink method, which creates a symbolic link on the server.  The 1st
    //  argument is the link target and the 2nd is the new symbolic-link path.

    CkSFtp sftp = new CkSFtp();

    //  Connect, authenticate, and initialize the SFTP subsystem.
    int port = 22;
    success = sftp.Connect("sftp.example.com",port);
    if (success == false) {
        Log.i(TAG, sftp.lastErrorText());
        return;
        }

    //  Normally you would not hard-code the password in source.  You should instead obtain it
    //  from an interactive prompt, environment variable, or a secrets vault.
    String password = "mySshPassword";

    success = sftp.AuthenticatePw("mySshLogin",password);
    if (success == false) {
        Log.i(TAG, sftp.lastErrorText());
        return;
        }

    success = sftp.InitializeSftp();
    if (success == false) {
        Log.i(TAG, sftp.lastErrorText());
        return;
        }

    //  Create a symbolic link "subdir/latest.log" that points at "subdir/2026-07-23.log".  The
    //  server's SFTP implementation determines how the target path is interpreted.
    success = sftp.SymLink("subdir/2026-07-23.log","subdir/latest.log");
    if (success == false) {
        Log.i(TAG, sftp.lastErrorText());
        return;
        }

    Log.i(TAG, "Symbolic link created.");

    sftp.Disconnect();

  }

  static {
      System.loadLibrary("chilkat");

      // Note: If the incorrect library name is passed to System.loadLibrary,
      // then you will see the following error message at application startup:
      //"The application <your-application-name> has stopped unexpectedly. Please try again."
  }
}