Editing Ln (Unix) (section)

==Links==
A link allows more than one [[file path|path]] to refer to the same file. 

A hard link is a directory entry that refers to a file's [[inode]] (an internal [[Reference (computer science)|reference]]). A file can have multiple hard links {{endash}} each referring to the same [[inode]].<ref name=libc /> Creating a hard link does not copy the contents of the file; but merely causes another name to be associated with the same content. When a hard link is created for a file, a [[Reference counting#File systems|counter]] in its inode is incremented, and removing a hard link results in decrementing the counter. A file is not deleted (to allow reusing its storage space) until its reference count reaches zero.<ref name=UNIXKP /><ref name=IBMInode>{{cite web|title=Speaking UNIX: It is all about the inode|url=http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/aix/library/au-speakingunix14/|website=ibm.com|publisher=IBM developerWorks|access-date=7 August 2015}}</ref> A hard link can only refer to an object on the same [[file system]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bovet|first1=Daniel P.|last2=Cesati|first2=Marco|title=Understanding the Linux Kernel|date=2005|publisher=Safari Tech Books Online|location=Boston, MA|isbn=0596005652|page=14|edition=3rd}}</ref>

A symbolic link refers to another file by its path (a symbolic reference).<ref name=GNULnman>{{cite web|title=GNU Coreutils: ln invocation|url=https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/html_node/ln-invocation.html|website=gnu.org|publisher=Free Software Foundation, Inc.|access-date=7 August 2015}}</ref> When encountered during pathname resolution, modify the [http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/basedefs/V1_chap04.html#tag_04_13 pathname resolution] to be taken to the location which the symbolic link contains. The content of a symbolic link is the target path, which can also be examined via the {{code|readlink}} command.<ref>{{cite web|title=readlink(1) - Linux man page|url=http://linux.die.net/man/1/readlink|website=linux.die.net|access-date=7 August 2015|ref=ReadlinkMan}}</ref> A symbolic link may specify a path that does not refer to an existing file. Resolving such a symbolic link will fail until a file is created at its specified path. Also, a symbolic link to an existing file will fail to resolve if the file is moved.<ref name=libc>{{cite book|last1=Loosemore|first1=Sandra|last2=Stallman|first2=Richard M.|last3=McGrath|first3=Roland|last4=Oram|first4=Andrew|last5=Drepper|first5=Ulrich|title=The GNU C Library Reference Manual|publisher=Free Software Foundation, Inc|page=392|url=https://www.gnu.org/software/libc/manual/pdf/libc.pdf|access-date=7 August 2015}}</ref>