Objective-C

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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Objective-C

#import <CkoSFtp.h>
#import <NSString.h>

BOOL success = NO;

//  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.

CkoSFtp *sftp = [[CkoSFtp alloc] init];

//  Connect, authenticate, and initialize the SFTP subsystem.
int port = 22;
success = [sftp Connect: @"sftp.example.com" port: [NSNumber numberWithInt: port]];
if (success == NO) {
    NSLog(@"%@",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.
NSString *password = @"mySshPassword";

success = [sftp AuthenticatePw: @"mySshLogin" password: password];
if (success == NO) {
    NSLog(@"%@",sftp.LastErrorText);
    return;
}

success = [sftp InitializeSftp];
if (success == NO) {
    NSLog(@"%@",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" newPath: @"subdir/latest.log"];
if (success == NO) {
    NSLog(@"%@",sftp.LastErrorText);
    return;
}

NSLog(@"%@",@"Symbolic link created.");

[sftp Disconnect];