Visual FoxPro

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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LOCAL lnSuccess
LOCAL loSftp
LOCAL lnPort
LOCAL lcPassword

lnSuccess = 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.

loSftp = CreateObject('Chilkat.SFtp')

*  Connect, authenticate, and initialize the SFTP subsystem.
lnPort = 22
lnSuccess = loSftp.Connect("sftp.example.com",lnPort)
IF (lnSuccess = 0) THEN
    ? loSftp.LastErrorText
    RELEASE loSftp
    CANCEL
ENDIF

*  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.
lcPassword = "mySshPassword"

lnSuccess = loSftp.AuthenticatePw("mySshLogin",lcPassword)
IF (lnSuccess = 0) THEN
    ? loSftp.LastErrorText
    RELEASE loSftp
    CANCEL
ENDIF

lnSuccess = loSftp.InitializeSftp()
IF (lnSuccess = 0) THEN
    ? loSftp.LastErrorText
    RELEASE loSftp
    CANCEL
ENDIF

*  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.
lnSuccess = loSftp.SymLink("subdir/2026-07-23.log","subdir/latest.log")
IF (lnSuccess = 0) THEN
    ? loSftp.LastErrorText
    RELEASE loSftp
    CANCEL
ENDIF

? "Symbolic link created."

loSftp.Disconnect()

RELEASE loSftp