What are links and symbolic links in UNIX file system?
A link is a pointer or reference to another file. A directory in UNIX has a list of file names and their corresponding inodes. A directory entry can have an Inode pointing to another file.
This is a hard link. When a hard link is made, then the i-numbers of two different directory file entries point to the same inode.
A symbolic link or a soft link is a special type of file containing links or references to another file or directory in the form of a path. The path may be relative or absolute. To create a symbolic link, following command is used:
Ln –s target link_name
Here, target is the path and link_name is the name of the link. Symbolic links can be created to create a file system based on different views of the user.
What are links and symbolic links in UNIX file system?
Link is a utility program in UNIX which establishes a hard link from one directory to another directory. A hard link is a reference to a directory or to file on storage media. A symbolic link is a type of file. It contains references to another file directory in the form of absolute or a relative path.
