Editing Linker (computing) (section)

{{Short description|Program that combines intermediate build files into an executable file}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020|cs1-dates=y}}
[[File:Linker.svg|thumb|An illustration of the linking process. Object files and [[static library|static libraries]] are assembled into a new library or executable]]

A '''linker''' or '''link editor''' is a [[computer program]] that combines intermediate [[software build]] files such as [[object file|object]] and [[library (computing)|library]] files into a single [[executable]] file such as a program or library. A linker is often part of a [[toolchain]] that includes a [[compiler]] and/or [[assembler (computing)|assembler]] that generates intermediate files that the linker processes. The linker may be integrated with other toolchain [[development tool|tools]] such that the user does not interact with the linker directly.

A simpler version that writes its [[Input/output|output]] directly to [[Computer memory|memory]] is called the ''loader'', though [[loader (computing)|loading]] is typically considered a separate process.<ref name="IBM_1972"/><ref name="Barron_1978_Consolidator"/>