Shortcuts - Revision history

DrModiford: Found this page on Random pick, added link to the ln article.

2008-05-05T22:10:59Z

Found this page on Random pick, added link to the ln article.

Jimbo: Reverted edit of Ninereasons, changed back to last version by Jimbo

2006-05-17T00:33:45Z

Reverted edit of Ninereasons, changed back to last version by Jimbo

Ninereasons: style consistency

2006-05-16T21:45:24Z

style consistency

Jimbo at 16:09, 18 December 2004

2004-12-18T16:09:23Z

Jimbo at 16:09, 18 December 2004

2004-12-18T16:09:00Z

Jimbo at 16:07, 18 December 2004

2004-12-18T16:07:48Z

New page

In the Unixlike world, MS Windows' "shortcuts" are replaced with sym[[links]]. Links are, however, considerably more powerful than shortcuts - a shortcut is only useful in certain situations, such as double-clicking on it directly to execute it, while a symlink can be used as an actual reference for the file itself - for example if you make a symlink of the directory '''/home/original''' at '''/home/symlink''', you can actually save a file to '''/home/symlink/newfile''' and it will arrive properly in the real directory, '''/home/original'''.

ph34r# '''cd /home'''
ph34r# '''mkdir original'''
ph34r# '''ln -s original symlink'''
ph34r# '''ls -l'''
lrwxr-xr-x 1 jimbo wheel 6 Dec 18 10:53 symlink -> original
drwxr-xr-x 18 jimbo wheel 512 Jun 19 20:48 original

See the symlinked directory? Note that the real directory has a "d" in the front of the file permissions section (drwxr-xr-x) while the symlink has an "l" there (lwrxr-xr-x). Also note that the name section of the symlink includes a visual pointer showing you where the symlink ''really'' goes - to the directory '''original''', in this case.

ph34r# '''echo "hello" > symlink/newfile'''
ph34r# '''cat original/newfile'''
"hello"
ph34r# '''cat jimbo/newfile'''
"hello"

And here's the proof of how well symlinks work as referential pointers - when we create a file "in" the symlink, it actually shows up in the real directory that the symlink pointed to... and whether we attempt to read that file from "inside" the symlink or the real directory, it shows up equally well either way.

[[Category:Windows Equivalents]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:10, 5 May 2008
Line 1:		Line 1:
		+	''The concepts noted in this article are documented within the [[ln]] article.''
		+
	In the Unixlike world, MS Windows' "shortcuts" are replaced with sym[[links]]. Links are, however, considerably more powerful than shortcuts - a shortcut is only useful in certain situations, such as double-clicking on it directly to execute it, while a symlink can be used as an actual reference for the file itself - for example if you make a symlink of the directory '''/home/original''' at '''/home/symlink''', you can actually save a file to '''/home/symlink/newfile''' and it will arrive properly in the real directory, '''/home/original'''.		In the Unixlike world, MS Windows' "shortcuts" are replaced with sym[[links]]. Links are, however, considerably more powerful than shortcuts - a shortcut is only useful in certain situations, such as double-clicking on it directly to execute it, while a symlink can be used as an actual reference for the file itself - for example if you make a symlink of the directory '''/home/original''' at '''/home/symlink''', you can actually save a file to '''/home/symlink/newfile''' and it will arrive properly in the real directory, '''/home/original'''.

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:09, 18 December 2004
Line 18:		Line 18:
	And here's the proof of how well symlinks work as referential pointers - when we create a file "in" the symlink, it actually shows up in the real directory that the symlink pointed to... and whether we attempt to read that file from "inside" the symlink or the real directory, it shows up equally well either way.		And here's the proof of how well symlinks work as referential pointers - when we create a file "in" the symlink, it actually shows up in the real directory that the symlink pointed to... and whether we attempt to read that file from "inside" the symlink or the real directory, it shows up equally well either way.

		+	See also [[Links]] for information on how hard links as well as soft links actually work within the filesystem, and/or [[ln]] for more examples of the syntax of the [[ln]] command itself.
	[[Category:Windows Equivalents]]		[[Category:Windows Equivalents]]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 In the Unixlike world, MS Windows' "shortcuts" are replaced with sym[[links]].  Links are, however, considerably more powerful than shortcuts - a shortcut is only useful in certain situations, such as double-clicking on it directly to execute it, while a symlink can be used as an actual reference for the file itself - for example if you make a symlink of the directory '''/home/original''' at '''/home/symlink''', you can actually save a file to '''/home/symlink/newfile''' and it will arrive properly in the real directory, '''/home/original'''.
-  samizdata# '''cd /home'''
+  ph34r# '''cd /home'''
-  samizdata# '''mkdir original'''
+  ph34r# '''mkdir original'''
-  samizdata# '''ln -s original symlink'''
+  ph34r# '''ln -s original symlink'''
-  samizdata# '''ls -l'''
+  ph34r# '''ls -l'''
   lrwxr-xr-x   1 jimbo             wheel            6 Dec 18 10:53 symlink -> original
   drwxr-xr-x  18 jimbo             wheel          512 Jun 19 20:48 original
@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 See the symlinked directory?  Note that the real directory has a "d" in the front of the file permissions section (drwxr-xr-x) while the symlink has an "l" there (lwrxr-xr-x).  Also note that the name section of the symlink includes a visual pointer showing you where the symlink ''really'' goes - to the directory '''original''', in this case.
-  samizdata# '''echo "hello" > symlink/newfile'''
+  ph34r# '''echo "hello" > symlink/newfile'''
-  samizdata# '''cat original/newfile'''
+  ph34r# '''cat original/newfile'''
   "hello"
-  samizdata# '''cat jimbo/newfile'''
+  ph34r# '''cat jimbo/newfile'''
   "hello"

@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
   ph34r# '''cat jimbo/newfile'''
   "hello"
-−
 And here's the proof of how well symlinks work as referential pointers - when we create a file "in" the symlink, it actually shows up in the real directory that the symlink pointed to... and whether we attempt to read that file from "inside" the symlink or the real directory, it shows up equally well either way.
 See also [[Links]] for information on how hard links as well as soft links actually work within the filesystem, and/or [[ln]] for more examples of the syntax of the [[ln]] command itself.
 [[Category:Windows Equivalents]]