Rust

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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Rust


// 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.

let sftp = chilkat::SFtp::new();

// Connect, authenticate, and initialize the SFTP subsystem.
let port = 22;
if sftp.connect("sftp.example.com", port).is_err() {
    println!("{}", sftp.last_error_text());
    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.
let password = "mySshPassword".to_string();

if sftp.authenticate_pw("mySshLogin", &password).is_err() {
    println!("{}", sftp.last_error_text());
    return;
}

if sftp.initialize_sftp().is_err() {
    println!("{}", sftp.last_error_text());
    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.
if sftp.sym_link("subdir/2026-07-23.log", "subdir/latest.log").is_err() {
    println!("{}", sftp.last_error_text());
    return;
}

println!("Symbolic link created.");

sftp.disconnect();