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Symbolic Link ○꠹｜Definition｜1st｜20251119205401-00-⌔
Symbolic link
In computing, a symbolic link (a.k.a. symlink or soft link) is a special computer file that refers to another file or directory by storing a path to it,1 thus providing an alternative access path without duplicating the target’s content. Apps that use operating system services may treat a symbolic link like other files or directories, and would not know that it is a symbolic link unless they investigate its nature. A symbolic link will break if its target is moved or deleted.
Symbolic links are supported in Unix-like operating systems and Microsoft Windows, although they impose varying limitations on them. Alternatives to symbolic links include hard links, shortcut files, and Windows shell objects.
Printed 2026-06-28.
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Link to original Footnotes
“Pathname resolution”. POSIX. ↩
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