symlinkki

symlinkki is a term that refers to a symbolic link, often shortened to symlink. A symbolic link is a special type of file in Unix-like operating systems that points to another file or directory. When a program or the operating system accesses a symbolic link, it is redirected to the target file or directory. This means that a symbolic link does not contain the actual data of the file it points to, but rather the path to that file.

Symbolic links are created using the `ln -s` command. For example, to create a symbolic link named `mylink` that points to a file named `originalfile`, you would type `ln -s originalfile mylink`. This allows for flexible organization of files and directories. You can create links to files or directories located anywhere on the file system, including across different partitions or even network mounts.

The primary uses of symbolic links include creating shortcuts to frequently accessed files or directories, managing software installations by linking configuration files, and simplifying complex directory structures. They are distinct from hard links, which are essentially multiple directory entries pointing to the same inode (the data structure that stores information about a file). If the original file is deleted, a symbolic link pointing to it will become broken, while a hard link will remain functional as long as at least one hard link to the inode exists.

---