Hard and Symbolic links on Linux

What is Linux?

Just like Windows, iOS, and Mac OS, Linux is an operating system. In fact, one of the most popular platforms on the planet, Android, is powered by the Linux operating system. An operating system is software that manages all of the hardware resources associated with your desktop or laptop. To put it simply, the operating system manages the communication between your software and your hardware. Without the operating system (OS), the software wouldn?t function.

what are hard and symbolic links on Linux ?

A soft link does not contain the data in the target file.

A soft link points to another entry somewhere in the file system.

A soft link has the ability to link to directories, or to files on remote computers networked through NFS.

Deleting a target file for a symbolic link makes that link useless.

A hard link preserves the contents of the file.

A hard link cannot be created for directories, and they cannot cross filesystem boundaries or span across partitions.

In a hardlink you can use any of the hardlink names created to execute a program or script in the same manner as the original name given.

How to create a hard links in Linux or Unix

To create a hard links on a Linux or Unix-like system:

1. Create hard link between sfile1file and link1file, run: ln sfile1file link1file
2. To make symbolic links instead of hard links, use: ln -s source link
3. To verify soft or hard links on Linux, run: ls -l source link

How to Create Symbolic Links

To use the ln command, open a terminal window and enter the command with the following format:

ln [-sf] [source] [destination]        

• By default, the?ln?command creates a hard link.
• Use the?-s option to create a soft (symbolic) link.
• The?-f option will force the command to overwrite a file that already exists.
• Source is the file or directory being linked to.
• Destination?is the location to save the link – if this is left blank, the symlink is stored in the current working directory.

For example, create a symbolic link with:

ln -s test_file.txt link_file.txt        

This creates a symbolic link?(link_file.txt)?that points to the?test_file.txt.

To verify whether the symlink has been created, use the ls command:

ls -l link_file.txt        

the difference between hard and symbolic links on linux