How can I symlink a file in Linux? [closed]

Answer 1

If you are in the directory where you want to create symlink, then ignore second path.

cd myfolder
ln -s target

It will create symlink of target inside myfolder.

General syntax

ln -s TARGET LINK_NAME

Answer 2

I'd like to present a plainer-English version of the descriptions already presented.

 ln -s  /path-text/of-symbolic-link  /path/to/file-to-hold-that-text

The "ln" command creates a link-FILE, and the "-s" specifies that the type of link will be symbolic. An example of a symbolic-link file can be found in a WINE installation (using "ls -la" to show one line of the directory contents):

 lrwxrwxrwx 1 me power 11 Jan  1 00:01 a: -> /mnt/floppy

Standard file-info stuff is at left (although note the first character is an "l" for "link"); the file-name is "a:" and the "->" also indicates the file is a link. It basically tells WINE how Windows "Drive A:" is to be associated with a floppy drive in Linux. To actually create a symbolic link SIMILAR to that (in current directory, and to actually do this for WINE is more complicated; use the "winecfg" utility):

 ln -s  /mnt/floppy  a:   //will not work if file a: already exists

Answer 3

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.

In your case symlinks:

ln -s source target

you can refer to http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man7/symlink.7.html

you can create too hard links

A hard link to a file is indistinguishable from the original directory entry; any changes to a file are effectively independent of the name used to reference the file. Hard links may not normally refer to directories and may not span file systems.

ln source link

Answer 4

Creating Symbolic links or Soft-links on Linux:

Open Bash prompt and type the below mentioned command to make a symbolic link to your file:

A) Goto the folder where you want to create a soft link and typeout the command as mentioned below:

$ ln -s (path-to-file) (symbolic-link-to-file)
$ ln -s /home/user/file new-file

B) Goto your new-file name path and type:

$ ls -lrt (To see if the new-file is linked to the file or not)

Example:

user@user-DT:[~/Desktop/soft]# ln -s /home/user/Desktop/soft/File_B /home/user/Desktop/soft/File_C
user@user-DT:[~/Desktop/soft]# ls -lrt
total 0
-rw-rw-r-- 1 user user  0 Dec 27 16:51 File_B
-rw-rw-r-- 1 user user  0 Dec 27 16:51 File_A
lrwxrwxrwx 1 user user 31 Dec 27 16:53 File_C -> /home/user/Desktop/soft/File_B


Note: Where, File_C -> /home/user/Desktop/soft/File_B  Means, File_C is symbolically linked to File_B

Answer 5

ln -s target linkName

You can have a look at the man page here:

http://linux.die.net/man/1/ln

Answer 6

ln [-Ffhinsv] source_file [target_file]

    link, ln -- make links

        -s    Create a symbolic link.

    A symbolic link contains the name of the file to which it is linked. 

    An ln command appeared in Version 1 AT&T UNIX.