Delphi ActiveX

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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var
success: Integer;
sftp: TChilkatSFtp;
port: Integer;
password: WideString;

begin
success := 0;

//  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.

sftp := TChilkatSFtp.Create(Self);

//  Connect, authenticate, and initialize the SFTP subsystem.
port := 22;
success := sftp.Connect('sftp.example.com',port);
if (success = 0) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add(sftp.LastErrorText);
    Exit;
  end;

//  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.
password := 'mySshPassword';

success := sftp.AuthenticatePw('mySshLogin',password);
if (success = 0) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add(sftp.LastErrorText);
    Exit;
  end;

success := sftp.InitializeSftp();
if (success = 0) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add(sftp.LastErrorText);
    Exit;
  end;

//  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 = 0) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add(sftp.LastErrorText);
    Exit;
  end;
Memo1.Lines.Add('Symbolic link created.');

sftp.Disconnect();