Create Symbolic Links in Linux

Symbolic links in Linux is the same as creating a shortcut in Windows.

Use the ln command to create symbolic links. I was a little confusing to me when I was learning about it. But, then I got it. After a walk in the new Long Island RR station at the Grand Central Terminal in New York City. I decided to put together some examples:

To create a symbolic link to a file using the ln command.

ln -s source_file optional_symbolic_link

Always remember to use the switch -s. If not, you will create a hard link instead. Remember, the ln command will only give and output when it fails, otherwise nothing will be return nothing if successful.

Now check that a symbolic link was created by running ls -l

lrwxr-xr-x   1 rgm  staff  6 Mar 16 14:29 link_file -> source_file

If you see the ‘l’ at the beginning of the output it means ‘this is a symbolic link’ Also, the part link_file -> source_file showing that arrow means a symbolic link was created.

Same process work for creating symbolic links to directories.

To remove symbolic links there are two options:

rm created_link

or:

unlink created_link

The ‘link_file’ does NOT need to be created first. I was confused by this. As you can see creating symbolic Links in Linux is quite simple.

Contact me if you have any questions. You can also leave a comment below.