Creating link folder linux

How to Create Symbolic Links in Linux

Learning Linux symbolic commands is a great way of improving your potential in the Linux terminal. In this tutorial, we’ll cover a few commands to learn symbolic links in a quick and easy way. Before we begin, let’s overview what are symbolic links.

What are Linux Symbolic Links

Symbolic Links are not only helpful in creating shortcuts and file management in operating systems like Linux. They also serve as a way to create various locations for primary user folders, for instance, Documents, Pictures, Downloads, and much more!

Symbolic Links act like a string creating pathways for different files, folders, and directories in the computer system. They are capable of creating and storing multiple files in different places refer to one single file. Thus, increasing efficiency by locating all the specific documents in one command.

These links are stored in the mainframe, so even if the original file is deleted, you’ll have a backup for most of the important files. Symbolic links help create invalid link pathways to store pieces of information as per the requirement of the user.

Due to the user-friendly features in Linux, even Microsoft is following it to create Symbolic Links. Symbolic links, also known as Soft links or Symlinks, are not unique to Linux but they are just like a Search option in Windows where one can search a specific file or directory in a disk by executing various commands.

How to Create Symbolic Links in Linux?

Let’s look at how you can create file and folder links in Linux:

Create Symbolik Link in Linux for Files

Generally, to create links use we use the ln command and the -s option to specify Symbolic links. This is the easiest way to ensure a flexible approach that allows experimenting with the language as much as possible. There is nothing hard in creating Symbolic links in Linux – you just need to follow one simple step.

The ln command in Linux creates links between source files and directories.

• -s – the command for Symbolic Links.
• [target file] – name of the existing file for which you are creating the link
• [Symbolic filename] – name of the symbolic link.

Created links can be verified by directory listing using detailed list command:

However, if you do not specify the [Symbolic filename], the command will automatically create a new link in the existing directory.

Create Symbolic Link in Linux for Folders

Creating symbolic links for folders is not difficult either. The command used to create the folder symbolic link is:

For example, to link the /user/local/downloads/logo directory to /devisers folder, use the following command:

Once a Symbolic link is created and attached to the folder /devisers, it will lead to /user/local/downloads/logo. When the user changes directory – cd – to /devisers, the system will automatically change to the specific file and write it in the command directory.

Symbolic link options are called command line switches. Here are the most common ones and their descriptions:

Command Switch	Description
–backup[=CONTROL]	backup each existing destination file
-d, -F, –directory	superuser is allowed to attempt hard link
-f, –force	existing destination file is removed
-I, –interactive	prompt before removing destination files
-L, –logical	deference targets that are symbolic links
-n, –non-dereference	symbolic links to directory are treated as files
-P, –physical	make hard links directly to symbolic links
-r, –relative	create symbolic links relative to link location
-s, –symbol	make symbolic links instead of hard links
-S, –suffix=SUFFIX	override usual backup suffix
-v, –verbose	print name of each linked file

How to Change or Remove Symbolic Link in Linux?

You can remove existing links attached to files or directories by the unlink or rm command. This is how you can do it with the unlink command:

Removing symbolic link using the rm command is similar to the unlink command which is as under:

Wrapping up

Remember, if the source is no longer in the current location, then you should delete the symbolic files to avoid creating duplicates, which might slow down your work.

Linux is a wonderful platform for creating an interactive and dynamic application, where you can experiment and innovate. A strong foundation is critical. Learn the basic of the language thoroughly to use it to its full potential. We hope this tutorial helped you improve your skills with another useful tool!

Edward is an expert communicator with years of experience in IT as a writer, marketer, and Linux enthusiast. IT is a core pillar of his life, personal and professional. Edward’s goal is to encourage millions to achieve an impactful online presence. He also really loves dogs, guitars, and everything related to space.

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How to Create Symbolic Link for Files and Folders in Linux

Symbolic link or soft link is a special type of file that contains a reference, which points to another file or directory. It is supported on almost all Linux distributions. Although it points to their target, they operate independently of their targets. We can create links for both files and directories.

Removing symbolic link doesn’t affect anything but when the original file is removed, the link becomes a ‘dangling’ link that points to a nonexistent file. Unlike hard link, soft links have different inode numbers, ie deleting target file or directory does not remove soft links. These links could be also created across the filesystem.

Create symbolic link for folder

ln command is used to create symbolic links and it uses the following syntax:

For example, to link the /usr/local/lib/sample directory to /sample folder, use the following command:

After creating the symbolic link to the folder /sample and it should point to /usr/local/lib/sample, and when user changes directory (cd) to /sample, Operating system shell will automatically change to /usr/local/lib/sample directory. You can view link using ls command. You might have noticed, file type field is showing l that indicates that it is a symbolic link and -> shows link path.

Create symbolic link for files

The symbolic link could be used for files also using the same ln command. Below, example will show how to create a new link (soft) file «filesync» which point to /home/bobbin/sync.sh

This will create a new link file named selfi.sh in the current directory which will point to /home/bobbin/selfi.sh

Conclusion

Symbolic links are used for linux programs, as aliased so that users does not have to know which version of code used.

Don’t use soft links as an alternative for backup. Backup is two identical set of data where links are alias names for file or directory.

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Symlink Tutorial in Linux – How to Create and Remove a Symbolic Link

A symlink (also called a symbolic link) is a type of file in Linux that points to another file or a folder on your computer. Symlinks are similar to shortcuts in Windows.

Some people call symlinks «soft links» – a type of link in Linux/UNIX systems – as opposed to «hard links.»

Difference Between a Soft Link and a Hard Link

Soft links are similar to shortcuts, and can point to another file or directory in any file system.

Hard links are also shortcuts for files and folders, but a hard link cannot be created for a folder or file in a different file system.

Let’s look at the steps involved in creating and removing a symlink. We’ll also see what broken links are, and how to delete them.

How to Create a Symlink

The syntax for creating a symlink is:

ln is the link command. The -s flag specifies that the link should be soft. -s can also be entered as -symbolic .

By default, ln command creates hard links. The next argument is path to the file (or folder) that you want to link. (That is, the file or folder you want to create a shortcut for.)

And the last argument is the path to link itself (the shortcut).

How to Create a Symlink for a File – Example Command

After running this command, you will be able to access the /home/james/transactions.txt with trans.txt . Any modification to trans.txt will also be reflected in the original file.

Note that this command above would create the link file trans.txt in your current directory. You can as well create a linked file in a folder link this:

There must be a directory already called «my-stuffs» in your current directory – if not the command will throw an error.

How to Create a Symlink for a Folder – Example Command

Similar to above, we’d use:

This would create a symlinked folder called ‘james’ which would contain the contents of /home/james . Any changes to this linked folder will also affect the original folder.

How to remove a symlink

Before you’d want to remove a symlink, you may want to confirm that a file or folder is a symlink, so that you do not tamper with your files.

One way to do this is:

Running this command on your terminal will display the properties of the file. In the result, if the first character is a small letter L (‘l’), it means the file/folder is a symlink.

You’d also see an arrow (->) at the end indicating the file/folder the simlink is pointing to.

There are two methods to remove a symlink:

How to Use Unlink to Remove a Symlink

This deletes the symlink if the process is successful.

Even if the symlink is in the form of a folder, do not append ‘/’, because Linux will assume it’s a directory and unlink can’t delete directories.

How to use rm to Remove a Symlink

As we’ve seen, a symlink is just another file or folder pointing to an original file or folder. To remove that relationship, you can remove the linked file.

Hence, the syntax is:

Note that trying to do rm james/ would result an error, because Linux will assume ‘james/’ is a directory, which would require other options like r and f . But that’s not what we want. A symlink may be a folder, but we are only concerned with the name.

The main benefit of rm over unlink is that you can remove multiple symlinks at once, like you can with files.

How to Find and Delete Broken Links

Broken links occur when the file or folder that a symlink points to changes path or is deleted.

For example, if ‘transactions.txt’ moves from /home/james to /home/james/personal , the ‘trans.txt’ link becomes broken. Every attempt to access to the file will result in a ‘No such file or directory’ error. This is because the link has no contents of its own.

When you discover broken links, you can easily delete the file. An easy way to find broken symlinks is:

This will list all broken symlinks in the james directory – from files to directories to sub-directories.

Passing the -delete option will delete them like so:

Wrapping up

Symbolic link are an interesting feature of Linux and UNIX systems.

You can create easily accessible symlinks to refer to a file or folder that would otherwise not be convenient to access. With some practice, you will understand how these work on an intuitive level, and they will make you much more efficient at managing file systems.

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How to create a soft or symbolic link?

I am installing p4v in /opt , but /usr/bin is on my path. Is it possible to create a soft or symbolic link for p4v from /opt to /usr/bin , so I can just type «p4v» since /usr/bin is in my path?

8 Answers 8

To create a symlink at /usr/bin/bar which references the original file /opt/foo , use:

You would need to apply the above command as root (i.e. with sudo ).

The error is that you are writing the command wrong. The correct way is

If the ‘p4v’ executable is at /opt/bin/p4v, you can simply run:

It would be better to add /opt/bin (or wherever the executable is) to your path:

/.profile would be better for setting $PATH .

Check the software location by this.

output will be this.

To create the soft link. for example you want to create the soft link for skype on your desktop

For more information about ln .

Note, this works if you both nodes are below you in the same tree. You can use relative notation

• -s command makes it a symbolic link
• -n makes it possible de create a folder-type symlink

This template was more helpful for me than the above answers. Probably not more correct, just less obfuscated:

Just replace the parts in <> ‘s

If it is saying target is not a folder , it means there are spaces in your folder names eg: New Folder has a space

You need to edit the path and add a backslash \ after every space in the paths

I have found that it is easier to go to where you want the link to be and then create the link using sudo ln -s /path/to/source/file , than doing ln -s target source .

So in your case I would do cd /usr/bin then sudo ln -s /opt/bin/pv4 . The other way has not been working in my case.

Not the answer you’re looking for? Browse other questions tagged symbolic-link or ask your own question.

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