The problem with "from" and "to" is - which is the from and which is the to?
Is the "from" the file/dir I want to copy "to" a link?
Or is the "from" the name of a link I want to point "to"?
The dual meaning of some terms that the concept of links and making links creates causes a lot of this confusion, IMHO. Are we using terminology that refers to the act of creating the link or that refers to the direction of the link?
Similarly, I don't think it helps that the usage text and manpage for ln refer to "target"s.
(I know what you mean by your examples but I wanted to share my pet theory as to why this is always so hard to remember)
Exactly! The rule is for that commands of two letters in length (cp, ln, mv) the file on the end is the one that gets created. For commands of three letters in length (tar, zip) the file that gets created is the first one. And then there's the exceptions that prove the rule like scp and ssh.
Is the "from" the file/dir I want to copy "to" a link?
Or is the "from" the name of a link I want to point "to"?
The dual meaning of some terms that the concept of links and making links creates causes a lot of this confusion, IMHO. Are we using terminology that refers to the act of creating the link or that refers to the direction of the link?
Similarly, I don't think it helps that the usage text and manpage for ln refer to "target"s.
(I know what you mean by your examples but I wanted to share my pet theory as to why this is always so hard to remember)