Symbolic Link

A file that points to another path.

Backend Engineer · Junior Frontend Engineer · Junior Data Engineer · Junior

Also known as: symbolic link, soft link, symlink, ln -s

A symbolic link (symlink) is a special file that points to another file or directory by its path. Opening the link works as if you opened the target.

ln -s /var/www/releases/2026-10-10 /var/www/current
ls -l /var/www/current
# lrwxrwxrwx ... current -> /var/www/releases/2026-10-10

ln -s target link_name      # note the order: target first, then the new link
readlink -f current         # show where it ultimately points
rm current                  # removes the link only, not the target

Common uses

Switching versions: a current link points at the live release, and a deploy re-points it, which makes releases and rollbacks nearly instant.
Shortcuts: access a deep folder from a convenient place.
Compatibility: let software find a file at an old path.
Alternatives: /usr/bin/python linked to python3.12 (version managers use similar tricks).

Symlink vs hard link

	Symbolic link	Hard link
Points to	a path (name)	the file’s data (inode)
Can cross file systems	yes	no
Can link a directory	yes	generally no
If the target is deleted	the link breaks (dangling)	the data survives while any link remains

Gotchas

Dangling links point to something that no longer exists, and give “No such file or directory”.
Relative links are relative to the link’s location, not where you run the command.
Deleting vs following: rm link removes the link, but rm link/ or rm -r link/* may act on the target. Be careful.
Tools differ in whether they follow links (backup tools, cp -r, find, Docker COPY). Check the flags.
Security: following links in untrusted locations can be abused (path traversal).
Windows has symlinks too, but they need privileges, and Git on Windows may handle them differently.