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What is Symbolic Link?

A special file that acts as a shortcut pointing to another file or directory in the filesystem.

A symbolic link (symlink) is a reference to another file or directory. Unlike hard links, symlinks can cross filesystem boundaries and link to directories. They are created with ln -s.

If the target file is deleted, the symlink becomes a "dangling" link pointing to nothing. Symlinks are widely used for version management, configuration shortcuts, and library linking.

Related Terms

Nohup
A command that runs a process immune to hangup signals, allowing it to continue after the terminal session ends.
Namespace
A Linux kernel feature that provides process isolation by creating separate instances of global system resources.
Ulimit
A command that sets or displays resource limits for user processes, such as maximum open files or memory usage.
Journald
The systemd journal daemon that collects and stores log data from services, the kernel, and boot messages in a structured binary format.
Firewalld
A dynamic firewall management tool for Linux that provides a D-Bus interface for managing firewall rules with zones.
Strace
A diagnostic tool that traces system calls and signals made by a process, useful for debugging and performance analysis.
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