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. This guide explains how to use the ln command to create symbolic/soft links.
Two types of links
There are two types of links
- symbolic links (also known as “soft links” or “symlinks”): 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 under Unix and Linux?
Soft links are created with the ln command. For example, the following would create a soft link named link1 to a file named file1, both in the current directory
$ ln -s file1 link1
To verify new soft link run:
$ ls -l file1 link1
Sample outputs:
-rw-r--r-- 1 veryv wheel 0 Mar 7 22:01 file1 lrwxr-xr-x 1 veryv wheel 5 Mar 7 22:01 link1 -> file1
From the above outputs it is clear that a symbolic link named ‘link1’ contains the name of the file named ‘file1’ to which it is linked.
How to use the ln command
So the syntax is as follows to create a symbolic link in Unix or Linux, at the shell prompt:
$ ln -s {source-filename} {symbolic-filename}
For example create a 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
Sample outputs:
lrwxrwxrwx 1 vivek vivek 16 2007-09-25 22:53 index.php -> /webroot/home/httpd/test.com/index.php
You can now edit the soft link named /home/vivek/index.php and /webroot/home/httpd/test.com/index.php will get updated:
$ vi /home/vivek/index.php
Your actual file /webroot/home/httpd/test.com/index.php remains on disk even if you deleted the soft link /home/vivek/index.php using the rm command:
$ rm /home/vivek/index.php ## <--- link gone ##
## But original/actual file remains as it is ##
$ ls -l /webroot/home/httpd/test.com/index.php
Creating Symlink to a directory
The syntax remains same:
$ ln -s {source-dir-name} {symbolic-dir-name}
For example, create a symbolic link from the /home/lighttpd/http/users/vivek/php/app/ directory to the /app/ directory you would run:
$ ln -s /home/lighttpd/http/users/vivek/php/app/ /app/
Now I can edit files using /app/
$ cd /app/
$ ls -l
$ vi config.php
How to overwrite symlinks/Soft link
Pass the -f to the ln command to overwrite links:
ln -f -s /path/to/my-cool-file.txt link.txt
How to delete or remove symlinks/soft links
Use the rm command to delete a file including symlinks:
rm my-link-name
unlink /app/
rm /home/vivek/index.php
Getting help about the ln command
Type the following ln command:
$ man ln
$ ln --help
| ln command option | Description |
|---|---|
| --backup | make a backup of each existing destination file |
| -b | like --backup but does not accept an argument |
| -d | allow the superuser to attempt to hard link directories (note: will probably fail due to system restrictions, even for the superuser) |
| -f | remove existing destination files |
| -i | prompt whether to remove destinations |
| -L | dereference TARGETs that are symbolic links |
| -n | treat LINK_NAME as a normal file if it is a symbolic link to a directory |
| -P | make hard links directly to symbolic links |
| -r | create symbolic links relative to link location |
| -s | make symbolic links instead of hard links |
| -S | override the usual backup suffix |
| -t | specify the DIRECTORY in which to create the links |
| -T | treat LINK_NAME as a normal file always |
| -v | print name of each linked file |
| --help | display this help and exit |
| --version | output version information and exit |
Conclusion
You learned how to create a symbolic link in Linux using the ln command by passing the -s option. See ln command man page here for more information.
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Unix Create a Symbolic Link
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?
You need to run
chmod -R 777 /var/www
to set the server root to the right permissions so that pages are viewable.
You may need administrator privileges.
Please don’t ever do: chmod -R 777 /var/www or chmod 777 anywhere in your web accessible directories. I won’t bother telling what security risks this will open up. You can google it.
You should be giving the least permission needed to your directories and files on a web server. If you’re not sure what permissions are needed than learn more about how *nix permissions work and how your server works. here is a good place to start: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_system_permissions#Traditional_Unix_permissions
I run a server on LAN, therefore I don’t give a (“naughty-word”) about it, I do chmod 7777. Just saying, ha ha ha.
wow, lol.. I hope you never become a sysadmin
Yes, he just simply throws a shortcut and not a solution
Because there’s no possible reason to follow good practice when nobody’s watching, right?
[ / sarcasm ]
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.
how do you create a symbolic link to directories…
u cannot create symbolic link to directories.
sure you can:
ln -s /existing/directory /sym/link/to/that/dir
U missed -d
ln -sd /existing/directory /sym/link/to/that/dir
No he didn’t. where in the question did he specify he needed a hard link?
There are a lot of conflicting comments here.
1. Generally speaking, a directory *is a file* for the purposes of a symbolic link, i.e., you don’t need to do anything different.
2. The LINK points to the TARGET.
3. The TARGET is relative to the LINK.
4. The syntax is ln -s TARGET LINK
So suppose you have the following hard directory:
/var/www/App/Vendor/VendorPublicDir/
and you want to create a symlink to it in your webroot located at
/var/www/App/Webroot/
Then do:
ln -s /var/www/App/Vendor/VendorPublicDir /var/www/App/Webroot/VendorPublicDirLink
… this creates a LINK in /var/www/App/Webroot named VendorPublicDirLink that points to the TARGET /var/www/App/Vendor/VendorPublicDir
– or –
ln -s ../Vendor/VendorPublicDir /var/www/App/Webroot/
… this creates a LINK in /var/www/App/Webroot named VendorPublicDir (it defaulted to the TARGET name here because the LINK is an existing directory). The LINK points to the TARGET ../Vendor/VendorPublicDir (which is relative to /var/www/App/Webroot; where you run the command from doesn’t matter).
Bunch of mental midgets on this board.
ln -s DIRECTORY_NAME TARGET_DIRECTORY_NAME
I want to know that how to preserve these softlinks while copying the files on Solaris???
Hi All
If any one saw my msz.
Write me the advantage of soft link(symbolic link) only.
hey samir, i’m not doing your homework
rekt.
How can we know about the various options under link command.
you can search on google
using man command……………….
Hi,
Wanted to confirm the information I had. Great info, it worked.
Created a soft link for apache-tomcat
Syntax:
Soft Link
ln -s /directory/of/application/ /directory/and/softlink
e.g. ln -s /usr/local/apache-tomcat /usr/local/apache
This created an ‘apache’ softlink to apache-tomcat directory
ls -l
apache -> /usr/local/apache-tomcat
To use hard link, just remove the -s option
Hope this helps.
Hi,
Pla tell me ,in what scenario,we can use soft link and hard link.
“Pla tell me ,in what scenario,we can use soft link and hard link.”
I am trying to use a symbolic link (soft link) to allow multiple websites to share a css style that is beyond each sites root directory.
how can we send our file information to another user using ln command
Create an additional name (hard link) for the file ‘cars’. The link should
be called ‘autos’ and should be in your home directory:
How do you do that??
whats the advantage of soft link over Hard link?
How we can make more the Effective the Hardlink And Softlink?
My soft links are not visible through http:
how do I make sure that web server has access to those folder.
Please give the exact set of commands.
Thanks
darshan 10.26.09 at 2:47 am
My soft links are not visible through http:
how do I make sure that web server has access to those folder.
Please give the exact set of commands.
that depends on your webserver, for apache:
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
You can use .htaccess rules to create it
hi all..pls solve this issue…
why my link size immediately goes to zerosize occasionally?
Please make sure that the file which you are accessing is having a read access for web server.
If you are accessing a file under the home directory of a user there might not be read access for home directorates.
means /home/user folder will be with 700 (drwx——) permission. So you would need to set 755 permission for /home/user folder if you need to access the file through URL.
Please help me,when i create symbolic links they always come up broken
Hi,
Thanks chepas, it’s worked!
hiiiiiiiiii how to write the code in file……..
how to make folder in unix…………
@Shivani and @ Mansi
1st ask wat is UNIX?
u guys are kidding, right? :)
Thank you !
Hi,
I have a couple symboliclink questions:
1. How can I create a symboliclink between two filesystems?
Do I need to have a mount point to the second filesystem first then create a link to it?
2. If I copy a file with that has a symboliclink to another filesystem, will it lose the link?
Thanks.
What is the basic use of a soft link or sym link?
soft link maintains duplicate data in two files.
if you link one file with another,change in one file reflected to another file also.
Thanks, this was the info I needed
Really thanks guyz…. I created link successfully.
CASE: Actually user PC “/” is completely filled, so that user is unable to login. But he is able to login as super user. “/” is 100%.
SOLUTION: I find that /usr and /var is occupying more space, so wat i did is I moved content of /usr directory to /work directory (free space) and did ln -s /usr/include /work/name of the link . Thats it all files are physically in /work direcory but logically it is pointing to /usr/include place.
After rebooting user is able to work with his login, gained space in “/”.
Thanks,
Bharath
nice support
One more thing we need to consider as a security treat, some softwares have default UserID and Password like phpmyadmin and other softwares, after installation of this kind of software’s we need to take care of userID and Password.
I was having some trouble creating a symlink to a directory, and I discovered that it was caused by my using a relative path for the target (e.g. “..”). When I used an absolute path, it worked like a charm!
Hi All,
i am getting the below output in file
get_history(): getting history
2068, 2986, 6408, 7546, 7555, 7893, 7963, 8219, 8270, 8313, 8410, 8479, 8581, 8607, 8724, 8783, 8804, 8992, 9018, 9018, 9100, 9127, 9157, 9232, 9236, 9269, 9291, 9388, 9565, 9661, 9668, 9850, 9862, 10004, 10004, 10031, 10063, 10834, 12087, 13444
… got 40 historical records
lower: 11354 ? 3000 < 9018 = 0
upper: 11354 ? 9018 < 7000 = -215
9018 is todays number….i want to compaire this number with all above list of number one by one…..please solution mail me on laxmanbyadav@gmail.com
Thanks,
Laxy
sorry forgot to mension i want this in unix shell or perl…
Hi All,
I am new with unix, could you please provide some information with example for symbolic link or hardlink …..why and how its use….
Laxy
symbolic link is use to share file between two people. For example, Mr A hired Mr B and what Mr.B to work in his file, instaed of giving him his system, he linked his file to Mr.B with New file name. Name whatever work Mr.B do will update to Mr.A file. and you can do that with this command,
ln -s /home/Mr.A/Mr-file.txt /home/Mr.B/newfile.txt
hope this helps
Hi All,
Currently my application is running on the local HDD partition. The path of application is /usr/local/app.Kindly suggest how we can change the default path to shared storage volume as we are plan to do OS linux clustering.
why dont u dinks try searching the internet for your dumb questions
^—- Mike, I think i like you …lol seriously people 1-800-534RCH-G00Gl3
i creted ldap users. now i want to share some directories to each ldap users with different permissions from server. how will i do that?
It dind’t worked
I use Ubuntu 14.10
I have solved that running sublime from the startup and calling again for each file I edit
Your current directory is sample_dir. Create a hard link to cars2, called cars3 within sample_dir?
This is the hugest pet peeve when people try to explain *Nix stuff. You’re explaining it to people who already understand what ln does. Your use of “target-filename” “symbolic-filename” don’t make sense for someone who doesn’t understand ln to begin with.
Your description doesn’t make sense either
“For example create softlink for /webroot/home/httpd/test.com/index.php as /home/vivek/index.php, enter the following command:”
Should read something like “To symbolicly link an existing file ‘/webroot/home/httpd/test.com/index.php’ to this location ‘/home/vivek/index.php'”
Nothing is explicitly indicating what is symbolic and what actually exists. Either that or use terminology like source / destination. As both arguments here can be interpreted as targets per how other *nix commands are used and documented.
I am a complete newbie to this so can anyone tell me where exactly the symlink code goes?
Does it go in .htaccess or some other place?
Thanks!
Hi, everyone! This is so far what did I achieve. Can someone help with symbolic links? I couldn’t create a symbolic link between diretories.
[root@localhost folder2]# cd /root/folder
[root@localhost folder]# ll
total 8
-rw-r–r–. 1 root root 19 Jul 27 13:07 file1
-rw-r–r–. 1 root root 0 Jul 27 12:20 file2
-rw-r–r–. 1 root root 0 Jul 27 12:20 file3
-rw-r–r–. 1 root root 0 Jul 27 12:20 file4
-rw-r–r–. 1 root root 0 Jul 27 12:20 file5
-rw-r–r–. 1 root root 0 Jul 27 12:20 kgt
-rw-r–r–. 1 root root 11 Jul 27 12:56 kgz
[root@localhost folder]# ln -s kgz /root/kgz.link
[root@localhost folder]# ls -l
total 8
-rw-r–r–. 1 root root 19 Jul 27 13:07 file1
-rw-r–r–. 1 root root 0 Jul 27 12:20 file2
-rw-r–r–. 1 root root 0 Jul 27 12:20 file3
-rw-r–r–. 1 root root 0 Jul 27 12:20 file4
-rw-r–r–. 1 root root 0 Jul 27 12:20 file5
-rw-r–r–. 1 root root 0 Jul 27 12:20 kgt
-rw-r–r–. 1 root root 11 Jul 27 12:56 kgz
[root@localhost folder]# cd
[root@localhost ~]# ls
1 Desktop Downloads folder2 install.log.syslog Music Pictures Templates
anaconda-ks.cfg Documents folder install.log kgz.link passwd Public Videos
[root@localhost ~]# cd folder
[root@localhost folder]# ls
file1 file2 file3 file4 file5 kgt kgz
[root@localhost folder]# cat kgz
KGZ
KYRGYZ
[root@localhost folder]# cd
[root@localhost ~]# cat kgz.link
cat: kgz.link: No such file or directory
[root@localhost ~]#
Before executing the command, should i change my directory to the parent directory so that the the file(target file name) which i intended to point to an another one(symbolic file name) points out in every other child directories present inside the parent directory?? OR can i just execute the command irrespective of which directory i am in??
PLEASE HELP
This is an APPALLING, TERRIBLE page. You don’t even explain the order of the ln arguments. Which is the link, and which is the file?!?!?!?!
It truly is bad.