- Create links
- Identify hard and soft links.
- Copying versus linking files.
- Use links to support system administration tasks.
Commands : ln, ls
The link(ln) command creates a link to a file, which point a file in different directory.
Hard Links
File data can have more than one name in the different location in the same file system.
A hard link creates another file referencing the same inode as the original file.
Applications treats the hard link as the real file.
Cannot be created between two directories or filesystem/partitions.
Deleting the hard link does not delete the original file.
Symbolic Links(Soft Links)
Allows referencing files from different directories.
Can reference files in a different file system.
Deleting original file will remove the data.
Identify Hard and Soft Links.
Both links appear differently in shell.
ln file1 file1-hardlink
- ls -l file1-hardlink will show additional inode
ln -s file2 file2-softlink
- ls -ll file2-softlink will show a ‘l’ in the permission string to indicate symbolic link.
- It will also show the filename as file2-softlink -> file2
Note:
ls -lia
Show inode number
Use links to support system administration tasks.
find / inum 16789
finds files linked to specific inodes.
Changing the name of the soft-link break the link.