13,420
edits
Changes
→Linking Files
<table align="right"><tr valign="top"><td>[[Image:symbolic-link-1.png|thumb|right|300px|(Image licensed under [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ cc])]]</td><td>[[Image:inode-number-4.png|thumb|right|500px|Symbolic links do NOT share the same i-node number. '''Symbolic links''' are very good for short-cuts to other files (including directories) but NOT for backup purposes.]]</td></tr></table>
A '''Symbolic Link ''' is an indirect pointer to a file – a pointer to the hard link to the fileYou can create a symbolic link to a directoryA symbolic link can point to a file on a different file systemA symbolic link can point to a nonexistent file (referred to and are also known as a "broken '''soft link")''' or '''symlink'''.
'''Advantages''' of symbolic links are that they are shortcuts to other files, where the symbolic link only contains the pathname to the original file, you can create symbolic links on different Unix/Linux servers, and that you can create symbolic links for directories.
===Managing Processes===
