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Linux & Shell · Concept

Symbolic links

A symbolic link is a special file that stores another pathname. Linux can follow it to a file or directory, including a target that is missing or on another filesystem.

Last updated

Since
symlinkat(): POSIX.1-2008; Linux 2.6.16; glibc 2.4

Syntax

int symlink(const char *target, const char *linkpath);
int symlinkat(const char *target, int newdirfd, const char *linkpath);

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  • readlink(2)
  • lstat(2)
  • unlink(2)
  • rename(2)
  • link(2)
  • symlinkat(2)
  • path_resolution(7)
  • namespaces(7)

Source: symlink(7) - Linux manual page. Checked 2026-11-03.