Difference between revisions of "Symbolic link"
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| − | * ITS Reference Manual 1.5 from 1969 mentions links. 1.4 from 1968 doesn't. | + | A '''symbolic link''' is a connection between one [[file]] name in a [[file system]] and another (the 'target'; which does not necessarily need to exist at the time the symbolic link is created), such that references to the first name wind up at the second. |
| − | * The Multics paper "A General-Purpose File System For Secondary Storage" from 1965 describes symbolic links. | + | |
| − | * CTSS supposedly had links. | + | They differ from [[hard link]]s in that if the target file is deleted, and replaced with a different file, references to the symbolic link will go to the new file. |
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| + | ==History== | ||
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| + | * [[ITS]] Reference Manual 1.5 from 1969 mentions links. 1.4 from 1968 doesn't. | ||
| + | * The [[Multics]] paper "A General-Purpose File System For Secondary Storage" from 1965 describes symbolic links. | ||
| + | * [[CTSS]] supposedly had links. | ||
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Revision as of 12:42, 25 May 2018
A symbolic link is a connection between one file name in a file system and another (the 'target'; which does not necessarily need to exist at the time the symbolic link is created), such that references to the first name wind up at the second.
They differ from hard links in that if the target file is deleted, and replaced with a different file, references to the symbolic link will go to the new file.
