Linux Link Commands

Creating links is a kind of shortcut to access a file. Links allow more than one file name to refer to the same file.

There are two types of links :

1. Hard Link
2. Soft Link or Symbolic links

Hard Link

A hard link is one most power full links in the Linux system when we create a hard link to the file and then delete the file, we can still access the file using the hard link.

syntax : ln file_name link_name
Eg: ln ramkumar.txt ram

[oracle@oracletest scripts]$ ls -l
total 24
-rwxrwxrwx. 1 oracle oracle 42 Oct 21 01:49 ramkumar.txt
-rwxrwxr-x. 1 oracle oracle 1291 Oct 20 23:47 rman_bkp.sh
-rw-rw-r--. 1 oracle oracle 6979 Oct 20 23:48 rman.log
-rwxr--r--. 1 oracle oinstall 515 Sep 9 14:45 setEnv.sh
-rwxr--r--. 1 oracle oinstall 134 Sep 7 10:54 stop_all.sh
[oracle@oracletest scripts]$ ln ramkumar.txt ram
[oracle@oracletest scripts]$ ls -l
total 28
-rwxrwxrwx. 2 oracle oracle 42 Oct 21 01:49 ram
-rwxrwxrwx. 2 oracle oracle 42 Oct 21 01:49 ramkumar.txt
-rwxrwxr-x. 1 oracle oracle 1291 Oct 20 23:47 rman_bkp.sh
-rw-rw-r--. 1 oracle oracle 6979 Oct 20 23:48 rman.log
-rwxr--r--. 1 oracle oinstall 515 Sep 9 14:45 setEnv.sh
-rwxr--r--. 1 oracle oinstall 134 Sep 7 10:54 stop_all.sh
[oracle@oracletest scripts]$ cat ram
HI 
Hello
welcome to linux basic commands
[oracle@oracletest scripts]$ rm -rf ramkumar.txt
[oracle@oracletest scripts]$ ls -l
total 24
-rwxrwxrwx. 1 oracle oracle 42 Oct 21 01:49 ram
-rwxrwxr-x. 1 oracle oracle 1291 Oct 20 23:47 rman_bkp.sh
-rw-rw-r--. 1 oracle oracle 6979 Oct 20 23:48 rman.log
-rwxr--r--. 1 oracle oinstall 515 Sep 9 14:45 setEnv.sh
-rwxr--r--. 1 oracle oinstall 134 Sep 7 10:54 stop_all.sh
[oracle@oracletest scripts]$ cat ram
HI 
Hello
welcome to linux basic commands

Soft Link or Symbolic links

Soft link is another variety type of Linux link, But if we create a soft link of the file and then delete the file, we can’t access the file through the soft link, and the soft link becomes dangling

Syntax: ln -s file_name link_name

Eg: ln -s ramkumar.txt ram

Eg: ls -s sample.txt kar

[oracle@oracletest scripts]$ ln -s sample.txt kar
[oracle@oracletest scripts]$ ls -l
total 28
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 oracle oracle 9 Oct 21 23:12 ram -> sample.txt
-rw-rw-r--. 1 oracle oracle 49 Oct 21 23:12 ramkumar.txt
-rwxrwxrwx. 1 oracle oracle 42 Oct 21 01:49 ram
-rwxrwxr-x. 1 oracle oracle 1291 Oct 20 23:47 rman_bkp.sh
-rw-rw-r--. 1 oracle oracle 6979 Oct 20 23:48 rman.log
-rwxr--r--. 1 oracle oinstall 515 Sep 9 14:45 setEnv.sh
-rwxr--r--. 1 oracle oinstall 134 Sep 7 10:54 stop_all.sh
[oracle@oracletest scripts]$ cat ram
Good morning
How are you all
Take care
Bye Bye !
[oracle@oracletest scripts]$ rm -rf sample.txt
[oracle@oracletest scripts]$ ls -l
total 24
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 oracle oracle 9 Oct 21 23:12 ram -> sample.txt
-rwxrwxrwx. 1 oracle oracle 42 Oct 21 01:49 ram
-rwxrwxr-x. 1 oracle oracle 1291 Oct 20 23:47 rman_bkp.sh
-rw-rw-r--. 1 oracle oracle 6979 Oct 20 23:48 rman.log
-rwxr--r--. 1 oracle oinstall 515 Sep 9 14:45 setEnv.sh
-rwxr--r--. 1 oracle oinstall 134 Sep 7 10:54 stop_all.sh
[oracle@oracletest scripts]$ cat ram
cat: ram: No such file or directory

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