How to create symlink in linux

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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linux-notes.org

Хотелось бы рассказать как можно создавать ссылки (симлинки) в ОС Unix/Linux. В своей теме «Создание ссылок (symlink) в Unix/Linux» я на готовом примере покажу как это делается. Существуют несколько видов ссылок, и я расскажу в чем разница между ними.

Симлинк или мягкая ссылка представляет собой особый тип файла, который содержит ссылку на другой файл или каталог в виде абсолютного или относительного пути.

Жёсткой ссылкой — это структурная составляющая файла которая описывает его элемент каталога.

Создание ссылок (symlink) в Unix/Linux

В этом подразделе, я расскажу какие бывают симлинки и в чем они отличаются.

Мягкая ссылка (Soft link):

1. Мягкие ссылки используют различные номера инод чем основные файлы.
2. Мягкие ссылки становится полезными, если исходный файл был удален.
3. Мягкие ссылки могут быть созданы из каталогов.
4. Мягкая ссылка может быть создана на пересечении файловых систем.

Для того чтобы создать симлинк в линукс используется следующая команда:

И так, я создал симлинк linux-notes.org.conf на на тот же файл но который будет расположен в другой директории. После создания симлинка, необходимо сменить права на него:

Для проверки номера иноды:

Я создал симлинк на файл, так же, можно создавать симлинка на целую папку, для этого используйте:

И так, я создал симлинк symlink-to-opt-dir на папку /opt/directory. После создания симлинка, необходимо сменить права на него:

Вот и все, очень просто, и полезно.

Для проверки номера иноды:

Чтобы удалить, используйте:

И аналогично для каталогов.

Если вы удалите мягкую ссылку (/home/captain/linux-notes.org-softlink.txt), то сам файл данных будет по-прежнему находится там же (/home/captain/linux-notes.org.txt). Тем не менее, если вы удалите /home/captain/linux-notes.org.txt, то /home/captain/linux-notes.org-softlink.txt станет сломанной ссылкой и данные будут потеряны.

Жесткие ссылки (Hard Links):

1. Жесткие ссылки использует тот же номер иноды что и основные файлы.
2. Нельзя создать жесткие ссылки на каталоги.
3. Жесткие ссылки не могут быть созданы на пересечении файловых систем.
4. Жесткие ссылки всегда относится к источнику, даже если они перемещаются или удаляется.

Чтобы создать «жесткую ссылку», используйте:

Проверяем номер иноды:

Оба файла имеют одинаковые иноды (одинаковое количество индексных дескрипторов). Если нужно удалить «жесткую ссылку», то используйте команду:

Если вы удалите жесткую ссылку, ваши данные будут там. Если вы удалите /home/captain/linux-notes.org.txt то файл будет по-прежнему доступен через жесткую ссылку

Жесткие ссылки (Hardlink) vs Мягкие ссылки (Softlink) в UNIX/Linux

• Как я говорил ранее, жесткие ссылки не могут быть созданы для директорий.
• Жесткие ссылки не могут использоваться на пересечении границ файловых систем ( Нельзя создать сылку /tmp и примонтированную на /tmp ко 2-му HDD который смонтирован на/harddisk2).
• Символические ссылки (мягкие ссылки) ссылаются на символичный путь с указанием абстрактного расположение другого файла.
• Жесткие ссылки, ссылаются к определенному местоположению физических данных.

На этом, моя тема «Создание ссылок (symlink) в Unix/Linux» завершена. Не сильно сложная тема, но очень полезная.

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How to: Linux / UNIX create soft link with ln command

Symbolic links can be made to directories as well as to files on different filesystems or different partitions.

Two types of links

• symbolic links (also known as “soft links” or “symlinks”): Refer to a symbolic path indicating the abstract location of another file.
• hard links : Refer to the specific location of physical data.

How do I create soft link / symbolic link under Unix and Linux?

Soft links are created with the ln command. For example, the following would create a soft link named link1 to a file named file1, both in the current directory
$ ln -s file1 link1
To verify new soft link run:
$ ls -l file1 link1
Sample outputs:

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From the above outputs it is clear that a symbolic link named ‘link1’ contains the name of the file named ‘file1’ to which it is linked.

How to use the ln command

So the syntax is as follows to create a symbolic link in Unix or Linux, at the shell prompt:
$ ln -s < source-filename >< symbolic-filename >

For example create a softlink for /webroot/home/httpd/test.com/index.php as /home/vivek/index.php, enter the following command:
$ ln -s /webroot/home/httpd/test.com/index.php /home/vivek/index.php
$ ls -l
Sample outputs:

You can now edit the soft link named /home/vivek/index.php and /webroot/home/httpd/test.com/index.php will get updated:
$ vi /home/vivek/index.php
Your actual file /webroot/home/httpd/test.com/index.php remains on disk even if you deleted the soft link /home/vivek/index.php using the rm command:
$ rm /home/vivek/index.php ## ##
## But original/actual file remains as it is ##
$ ls -l /webroot/home/httpd/test.com/index.php

Creating Symlink to a directory

The syntax remains same:
$ ln -s
For example, create a symbolic link from the /home/lighttpd/http/users/vivek/php/app/ directory to the /app/ directory you would run:
$ ln -s /home/lighttpd/http/users/vivek/php/app/ /app/
Now I can edit files using /app/
$ cd /app/
$ ls -l
$ vi config.php

How to overwrite symlinks/Soft link

Pass the -f to the ln command to overwrite links:
ln -f -s /path/to/my-cool-file.txt link.txt

How to delete or remove symlinks/soft links

Use the rm command to delete a file including symlinks:
rm my-link-name
unlink /app/
rm /home/vivek/index.php

Getting help about the ln command

Type the following ln command:
$ man ln
$ ln —help

ln command option	Description
—backup	make a backup of each existing destination file
-b	like —backup but does not accept an argument
-d	allow the superuser to attempt to hard link directories (note: will probably fail due to system restrictions, even for the superuser)
-f	remove existing destination files
-i	prompt whether to remove destinations
-L	dereference TARGETs that are symbolic links
-n	treat LINK_NAME as a normal file if it is a symbolic link to a directory
-P	make hard links directly to symbolic links
-r	create symbolic links relative to link location
-s	make symbolic links instead of hard links
-S	override the usual backup suffix
-t	specify the DIRECTORY in which to create the links
-T	treat LINK_NAME as a normal file always
-v	print name of each linked file
—help	display this help and exit
—version	output version information and exit

Conclusion

You learned how to create a symbolic link in Linux using the ln command by passing the -s option. See ln command man page here for more information.

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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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