![]() This makes sense if you think about it-if creating a file in turn creates an inode somewhere in memory that’s associated with the file’s data, then surely the inode’s initial link count should be 1 and not 0. Above, we see that the inode associated with file has a link count of 1. The link count of an inode tracks the number of files that are pointing to it. Here’s the really interesting bit: There can be multiple links to a single inode. Each inode has a unique numerical ID associated with it that’s generated when the inode is created. Let’s create a file with echo Hello, links > file and view information about its inode using the stat command: Diagrammatically speaking, the link is the arrow between a file and its inode: File (Name) -> Inode When we create a file for the first time, the name that we assign it becomes the first link to its corresponding inode. Thus, we say that a link is a pointer to an inode. ![]() Now, in the simplest terms, linking is the process of “referencing” or pointing to an inode in memory. So you can think of a file system roughly as follows: Directory -> File (Name) -> Inode -> Raw Data on disk Pointers to blocks on the hard disk containing the raw data.Instead, a file points to an intermediate data structure in computer memory called an inode.Įach file is associated with an inode, and inodes are packed full of rich information about the file’s data, including: But files in the computer sense are nothing more than named entries in a directory.Ī file does not directly store or point to its data. When we talk about files in English, we typically picture a folder, binder, or some other container that directly stores documents or information. We’ll use these to explore hard links and symbolic links in this blog post. readlink for printing the value of a link (more on that later).ln for creating links (don’t worry if you’re not familiar with this).stat for viewing information about a file.cat for printing the contents of a file.ls for listing files in a directory (use -a to show all files).touch and echo (+ the output redirection operator >) for creating files.It helps to know these Unix commands, but if you don’t, we’ll look at how to use them: But do you know what they are and how you create them? In this post, we’ll look at the differences between hard links and soft links and understand how to create them. You may have heard the terms “hard link” and “soft link” used in the context of Unix and Unix-like operating systems.
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