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A symbolic link (symlink) is a file that stores the path of another file.
It's a Linux thing.
But works pretty much the same as a shortcut on Windows.
If you have played any type of computer game, you will know this.
How do you open a game?
As a disclaimer, I play this game too
You double-click an icon on the Desktop, right?
But the actual game.exe isn't installed on the Desktop.
You know this because when you delete the shortcut, the game is still there, somewhere.
This is essentially how a symlink works.
How to use a symlink
To create a symlink:
ln -s [OPTIONS] FILE_NAME LINK_NAME
Using the game example, the command might look something like this:
ln -s /Documents/League_of_Legends /Desktop/League_of_Legends
(Side note: Symlinks don't really have a file extension. It's a convention to follow the target file.)
Your OS will treat the link like it's the actual file.
For example, you can open the game through the link:
./Desktop/League_of_LegendsOr, perform any other action you could with a regular file:
cat /Desktop/League_of_LegendsWhy use symlinks?
Symlinks are used everywhere.
We have already covered a use case, which is essentially to "duplicate" a large file without using more disk storage.
Another use case is to manage software versions.
Regardless of your Python version, it could be 3.9, 3.14. 3.2, you can still use the "python3" command. Why?
Because the "python3" in your path is (likely) a symlink to the actual Python binary.
When you upgrade Python, it just points to the new version.
To recap:
A symlink is a special file that points to another file
Deleting the link doesn't affect the target file
Symlinks are useful in many ways, like duplicating large files without using more storage and managing tool versions.
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