How to: Linux / UNIX create soft link with ln command
Q. How do I create a soft link (symbolic link) under UNIX or Linux operating system?
A. To make links between files you need to use ln command. A symbolic link (also known as a soft link or symlink) consists of a special type of file that serves as a reference to another file or directory. Unix/Linux like operating systems often uses symbolic links.
Two types of links
There are two types of links
- symbolic links: 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?
To create a symbolic link in Unix or Linux, at the shell prompt, enter the following command:
ln -s {target-filename} {symbolic-filename}
For example create 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
Output:
lrwxrwxrwx 1 vivek vivek 16 2007-09-25 22:53 index.php -> /webroot/home/httpd/test.com/index.php
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Related Other Helpful FAQs:
- Unix Create a Symbolic Link
- Can I set the permissions on a symbolic link under Linux/UNIX?
- Linux / UNIX advantage of creating soft links instead of copy a file
- Linux / UNIX find files with symbolic links
- How to create a hard links in Linux / UNIX
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Tags: create_soft_link, create_symbolic_link, hard_links, ln_command, ls_command, softlink
June 13th, 2008 (4 weeks ago) at 11:22 am
I executed this comment successfully and created a soft link. When I tried browsing to “/home/vivek.index.php” it shows “403 Forbidden error is thrown. Is there is any possibility to browse on the same?
June 23rd, 2008 (2 weeks ago) at 11:03 pm
This error 403 access forbidden, means that a request for a “bare” directory path has been made, no default directory index page is present and the site manager does not want a file listing displayed in its place.
If you have problems accessing a particular file or directory, ensure that the Web server has permission to read those files. Usually, the Web server will operate under a special user account, so make sure that user has read permission.
In this case, either create an index for that directory or change the settings to permit directory listings. For Apache, use the Options +Indexes directive in the .htaccess file for the directory.