Information, Computer and Network Security Terms Glossary and Dictionary

Symlink: Symbolic Links

Symbolic link (symlink) is a special type of file that serves as a reference to another file. Unlike a hard link, a symbolic link does not point directly to data, but merely contains a symbolic path which is used to identify a hard link (or another symbolic link). Thus, when a symbolic link is removed, the file to which it pointed is not affected. In contrast, the removal of a hard link will result in the removal of the file, if it were the last hard link to that file. As a result, symbolic links can be used to refer to files on other mounted file systems. A symbolic link whose target does not exist is known as an orphan.

Related Terms

Symlink: Symbolic Links