Symbolic links are redirects to a specific file location.
Instead of copying a file or folder, you can just provide a link to that in
your current working directory, which saves disk space.
They can also be used to make scripting easier.
The command to create a symbolic link is ln.
The general syntax is:
$ ln -s actual_file symbolic_link
In the following example, a symbolic link is created for the example.txt file
in the home directory to appear on the Desktop.
The entire file path for both the origin file and the file’s symbolic link
location must be specified.
Then, from the Desktop, ls -lthr is used to demonstrate the link is indeed a
link, which is specified by the ->}
$ ln -s ~/example.txt ~/Desktop
$ ls -lthr
lrwxrwxrwx 1 simon simon 24 Mar 21 11:03 example.txt -> /home/simon/example.txt
Symbolic links can be removed by using rm on the link. Specifying that links are links in the link’s name may be helpful if you regularly get lost inside your Terminal.