How to Create a Symbolic Link

A symbolic link (also known as a symlink or soft link) is a special type of file that points to another file or directory on your system. Symbolic links can be used to create shortcuts to files or directories, or to create aliases for files with different names or locations. In this tutorial, we will cover how to create symbolic links in Linux and some common use cases for them.

Creating a symbolic link

To create a symbolic link in Linux, you can use the ln command with the -s option. The syntax for creating a symbolic link is as follows:

ln -s target link

Where target is the file or directory that the symbolic link should point to, and link is the name of the symbolic link that you want to create.

For example, to create a symbolic link called link that points to the file /home/user/file.txt, you can use the following command:

ln -s /home/user/file.txt link

This will create a symbolic link called link in the current directory, which you can use to access the file /home/user/file.txt.

Checking if a file is a symbolic link

To check if a file is a symbolic link, you can use the ls command with the -l option, which displays the file’s type and permissions. If the file is a symbolic link, the ls command will display an l in the first column of the output.

For example, to check if the file link is a symbolic link, you can use the following command:

ls -l link

This will output something like the following:

lrwxrwxrwx 1 user user 21 Jan 1 12:00 link -> /home/user/file.txt

The l in the first column indicates that link is a symbolic link, and the arrow (->) followed by the path /home/user/file.txt shows that the symbolic link points to that file.

Common use cases for symbolic links

Here are some common use cases for symbolic links:

  • Creating shortcuts to files or directories: Symbolic links can be used to create shortcuts to files or directories that are located in different locations on your system. This can make it easier to access these files or directories without having to navigate through multiple directories.
  • Creating aliases for files: Symbolic links can be used to create aliases for files with different names or locations. For example, you could create a symbolic link called link that points to the file /home/user/file.txt, and then use link as an alias for the file. This can be useful if you want to access a file with a different name or if you want to access a file in a different location without changing the current directory.
  • Sharing files between different users or systems: Symbolic links can be used to share files between different users or systems by creating a symbolic link on one system that points to a file on another system. This can be useful if you want to access a file from multiple locations without having to copy the file to each location.
  • Creating a backup of a file: Symbolic links can be used to create a backup of a file without taking up additional storage space. To do this, you can create a symbolic link to the original file and then delete the original file. This will remove the original file from the file system, but the symbolic link will still allow you to access the file’s content. If you need to restore the original file, you can recreate the original file using the content from the symbolic link.

Additional resources

There are many more options and features available with the ln command, and learning them can take time and practice. Here are some additional resources that can help you learn more about symbolic links in Linux:

  • The ln manual page: You can view the manual page for the ln command by using the man command. For example, man ln will show you the manual page for the ln command, including all of its options and usage examples.
  • The --help option: Many commands, including ln, support the --help option, which displays a short summary of the command’s usage and options. For example, ln --help will show you a summary of the options available for the ln command.
  • The Linux documentation project: This website (https://www.tldp.org/) contains a wealth of documentation and tutorials on using the command line in Linux, including information on symbolic links.

I hope this tutorial has helped you