PHP

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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<?php

use Chilkat2\SFtp;

// 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 = new SFtp();

// Connect, authenticate, and initialize the SFTP subsystem.
$port = 22;
try {
    $sftp->Connect('sftp.example.com', $port);

    // 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';

    $sftp->AuthenticatePw('mySshLogin', $password);

    $sftp->InitializeSftp();

    // 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.
    $sftp->SymLink('subdir/2026-07-23.log', 'subdir/latest.log');
} catch (\Chilkat2\Exception $e) {
    echo $e->getMessage(), "\n";
    exit;
}

echo "Symbolic link created.\n";

$sftp->Disconnect();