plink

Plink is a name used for several software tools in different domains. The two most widely encountered are PLINK, a genetics analysis toolkit for genome-wide association studies, and Plink (PuTTY Link), a command-line companion to the PuTTY SSH and Telnet client.

PLINK is a free, open-source command-line toolkit designed for population-genetics and genome-wide association studies. It provides quality control, basic association tests, LD pruning, and various data-preparation and summary-statistics features. Typical workflows read data in PED/MAP format or the binary BED/BIM/FAM formats, with outputs delivered as plain-text files. PLINK 2 extends these capabilities to large-scale datasets, adds improved support for modern input formats such as VCF and BGEN, and enhances performance through parallel processing and memory-efficient representations. The project is widely cited in genetics literature and is maintained by a community of contributors, with original development attributed to Shaun Purcell and collaborators. PLINK remains a staple in GWAS pipelines and population-genetic analyses.

Plink, short for PuTTY Link, is a component of the PuTTY suite that provides a command-line interface for establishing SSH connections and performing port forwarding. It is used on Windows and can be invoked in scripts to automate remote sessions and tasks. Plink shares the PuTTY project’s permissive open-source licensing and is typically distributed alongside the main PuTTY package as part of the same software ecosystem.

In summary, Plink may refer to a genetics software package used for GWAS and population genetics or to a utility within the PuTTY family used for non-interactive SSH connections, depending on the context.