CREATE_SYMLINK create symbolic link

Contents

Inputs

Outputs

Ref: https://docs.oracle.com/en/java/javase/21/docs/api/java.base/java/nio/file/Files.html#createSymbolicLink(java.nio.file.Path,java.nio.file.Path,java.nio.file.attribute.FileAttribute...)

function ok = create_symlink(target, link)
arguments
  target (1,1) string
  link (1,1) string
end


ok = false;

if stdlib.exists(link), return, end

try
  createSymbolicLink(link, target);
  ok = true;
catch e
  if strcmp(e.identifier, "MATLAB:io:filesystem:symlink:NeedsAdminPerms") || ...
      strcmp(e.identifier, 'MATLAB:UndefinedFunction')
    % windows requires RunAsAdmin
    % https://www.mathworks.com/help/releases/R2024b/matlab/ref/createsymboliclink.html
    % ok = java.nio.file.Files.createSymbolicLink(java.io.File(link).toPath(), java.io.File(target).toPath());
    % Matlab Java doesn't recognize the optional argument omitted.
    % see example/Filesystem.java for this working in plain Java.
    % see example/javaCreateSymbolicLink.m for a non-working attempt in Matlab.

    if ispc
      cmd = "pwsh -c " + '"' + "New-Item -ItemType SymbolicLink -Path " + link + ...
            " -Target " + target + '"';
    else
      cmd = "ln -s " + target + " " + link;
    end

    % suppress output text on powershell
    [stat, ~] = system(cmd);

    ok = stat == 0;
  elseif strcmp(e.identifier, "Octave:undefined-function")
    [err, msg] = symlink(target, link);
    ok = err == 0;
    if ~ok
      warning("create_symlink: %s", msg)
    end
  else
    warning(e.identifier, "%s", e.message)
  end
end

end


%!test
%! if !ispc
%!   assert(create_symlink(tempname, tempname))
%! endif

Published with MATLAB® R2024b