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ULI101

Introduction to UNIX/Linux and the Internet

Filesystem Links

Seneca College of Applied Technology

©2005 Raymodn.chan for ULI101

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What is a filesystem Link?

A link is a pointer to a file.
This pointer associates a file name with a number called an
i-node number
An i-node is the control structure for a file (on a
UNIX/Linux filesystem)
If two file names have the same i-node number, they are
links to the same file

©2005 Raymodn.chan for ULI101

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Display a file's i-node number

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Use the command “ls -i” to print i-node number
of each file:
[ray@localhost week8]$ ls -i
32764 lab3a.html 37745 lab3b.html
37740 lab3.zip
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Use the command “ls -il” for long listing
[ray@localhost week8]$ ls -il
total 40
32764 -rw-r--r-- 1 ray ray 1097 Sep 13 08:53 lab3a.html
37745 -rw-r--r-- 1 ray ray 6582 Sep 13 08:53 lab3b.html
37740 -rw-rw-r-- 1 ray ray 6218 Sep 14 00:05 lab3.zip
i-node
©2005 Raymodn.chan for ULI101
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Two kinds of links

Hard Links
and
Soft or Symbolic Links

©2005 Raymodn.chan for ULI101

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Hard Links
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Hard link is a reference to the physical data on a
filesystem
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All named files are hard links
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More than one name can be associated with the
same physical data
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Hard link can only refer to data that exists on the
same file system
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©2005 Raymodn.chan for ULI101
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Create Hard Links

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When you use “vi” to create a new file, you create
the first hard link (vi myfile)
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You can also use the “touch” command to create
the first hard link (touch myfile)
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To Create the 2nd, 3rd and etc. hard links, use the
command:

ln myfile link-name
©2005 Raymodn.chan for ULI101
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Display Hard Links info

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Create a new file called “myfile”
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Run the command “ls -il” to display the i-node
number and link counter

38753 -rw-rw-r-- 1 uli uli 29 Oct 29 08:47 myfile

^ ^
|-- inode # |-- link counter (one link)

©2005 Raymodn.chan for ULI101

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Display Hard Link Info

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Create a 2nd link to the same data:
ln myfile mylink
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Run the command “ls -il”:
38753 -rw-rw-r-- 2 uli uli 29 Oct 29 08:47 myfile
38753 -rw-rw-r-- 2 uli uli 29 Oct 29 08:47 mylink
^ ^
|-- inode # |--link counter (2 links)

©2005 Raymodn.chan for ULI101

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rd
Add the 3 Link
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Create a 3rd link to the same data:
ln myfile newlink
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Run the command “ls -il”:
38753 -rw-rw-r-- 3 uli uli 29 Oct 29 08:47 myfile
38753 -rw-rw-r-- 3 uli uli 29 Oct 29 08:47 mylink
38753 -rw-rw-r-- 3 uli uli 29 Oct 29 08:47 newlink
^ ^
|-- inode # |--link counter (3 links)

©2005 Raymodn.chan for ULI101

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Removing a link
When a file has more than one link, you can
remove any one link and still be able to access the
file through the remaining links.
[uli@seneca links] ls -li
38753 -rw-rw-r-- 3 uli uli 29 Oct 29 08:47 myfile
38753 -rw-rw-r-- 3 uli uli 29 Oct 29 08:47 mylink
38753 -rw-rw-r-- 3 uli uli 29 Oct 29 08:47 newlink
[uli@seneca links] rm mylink
[uli@seneca links] ls -li
38753 -rw-rw-r-- 2 uli uli 29 Oct 29 08:47 myfile
38753 -rw-rw-r-- 2 uli uli 29 Oct 29 08:47 newlink
[uli@seneca links] rm myfile
[uli@seneca links] ls -li
38753 -rw-rw-r-- 1 uli uli 29 Oct 29 08:47 newlink
©2005 Raymodn.chan for ULI101
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Removing all links

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Remove all the links
[uli@seneca links] ls -li
38753 -rw-rw-r-- 2 uli uli 29 Oct 29 08:47 myfile
38753 -rw-rw-r-- 2 uli uli 29 Oct 29 08:47 newlink
[uli@seneca links] cat myfile
This is my file.
[uli@seneca links] cat newlink
This is my file.
[uli@seneca links] rm myfile
[uli@seneca links] ls -li
38753 -rw-rw-r-- 1 uli uli 29 Oct 29 08:47 newlink
[uli@seneca links] cat newlink
This is my file.
[uli@seneca links] rm newlink
[uli@seneca links] ls -li

©2005 Raymodn.chan for ULI101

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Advanced use of links

Cross-classify links Directory
Courses File

uli101 iso110 ica101 to_do

to_do to_do to_do uli101 iso110 ica101

Links
©2005 Raymodn.chan for ULI101
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Create Cross-classify files

[uli@seneca uli] cd courses
[uli@seneca courses] mkdir uli101 ios110 ica101
[uli@seneca courses] vi uli101/to_do ... Add to do list to each file
[uli@seneca courses] vi ios110/to_do ... under each course's
[uli@seneca courses] vi ica101/to_do ... directory
[uli@seneca courses] ls -liR
38767 drwxrwxr-x 2 uli uli 72 Oct 29 11:15 ica101
38768 drwxrwxr-x 2 uli uli 72 Oct 29 11:16 ios110
38762 drwxrwxr-x 2 uli uli 72 Oct 29 11:14 uli101

./ica101:
44309 -rw-rw-r-- 1 uli uli 45 Oct 29 11:15 to_do

./ios110:
44407 -rw-rw-r-- 1 uli uli 49 Oct 29 11:16 to_do

./uli101:
38772 -rw-rw-r-- 1 uli uli 51 Oct 29 11:14 to_do
©2005 Raymodn.chan for ULI101
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Create Cross-classify links

[uli@seneca courses] ls -i
38767 ica101 38768 ios110 38762 uli101
[uli@seneca courses] mkdir to_do
38767 ica101 38768 ios110 38769 to_do 38762 uli101
Create links in the to_do directory to the
to_do file in each course's directory

[uli@seneca courses] ln ica101/to_do to_do/ica101

[uli@seneca courses] ln ios110/to_do to_do/ios110

[uli@seneca courses] ln uli101/to_do to_do/uli101

©2005 Raymodn.chan for ULI101

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Display links to the same file

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Pairs of files in different directories point to the
same physical file:
[uli@seneca courses] ls -li ica101/to_do to_do/ica101
44309 -rw-rw-r-- 2 uli uli 45 Oct 29 11:15 ica101/to_do
44309 -rw-rw-r-- 2 uli uli 45 Oct 29 11:15 to_do/ica101

[uli@seneca courses] ls -li ios110/to_do to_do/ios110

44407 -rw-rw-r-- 2 ray ray 49 Oct 29 11:16 ios110/to_do
44407 -rw-rw-r-- 2 ray ray 49 Oct 29 11:16 to_do/ios110

[uli@seneca courses] ls -li uli101/to_do to_do/uli101

38772 -rw-rw-r-- 2 ray ray 51 Oct 29 11:14 to_do/uli101
38772 -rw-rw-r-- 2 ray ray 51 Oct 29 11:14 uli101/to_do
©2005 Raymodn.chan for ULI101
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View To_do list files

[uli@seneca courses] cat ica101/to_do
Test 3 - Hands-on Database test Nov 10, 2005

[uli@seneca courses] cat iso110/to_do

Shell Programming assignment due on Nov 14, 2005

[uli@seneca courses] cat uli101/to_do

assignment 1 due Nov 4, 2005
lab 8 due Nov 4, 2005

[uli@seneca courses] cat ica101/to_do ios110/to_do uli101/to_do

Test 3 - Hands-on Database test Nov 10, 2005
Shell Programming assignment due on Nov 14, 2005
assignment 1 due Nov 4, 2005
lab 8 due Nov 4, 2005

[uli@seneca courses] cat to_do/*

?? what would be the output ??
©2005 Raymodn.chan for ULI101
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Recap
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Use “ln” to create hard links
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Files with the same i-node number refer to the
same physical file
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Use “ls -i” to display the file's i-node number and
link counter
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Use “rm filename” to remove a hard link
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A physical file will be deleted from the file
system when its link counter drops to zero,
©2005 Raymodn.chan for ULI101
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Symbolic Links
Also Know As (a.k.a.): Soft links or Symlinks
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Symbolic link is an indirect pointer to a file – a
pointer to the hard link to the file
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You can create a symbolic link to a directory
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A symbolic link can point to a file on a different
filesystem
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A symbolic link can point to a nonexistent file
©2005 Raymodn.chan for ULI101
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Create Symbolic Links

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To create a symboic link to the file “myfile”, use
ln -s myfile symlink or
ln --symbolic myfile symlink
[uli@seneca courses] ls -li myfile
44418 -rw-rw-r-- 1 uli uli 49 Oct 29 14:33 myfile

[uli@seneca courses] ln -s myfile symlink

[uli@seneca courses] ls -li myfile symlink
44418 -rw-rw-r-- 1 uli uli 49 Oct 29 14:33 myfile
44410 lrwxrwxrwx 1 uli Link
uli counter
6 Oct(1 link)
29 14:33 symlink -> myfile
File type – symboic link
Different i-node number
©2005 Raymodn.chan for ULI101
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Properties of Symbolic Link files

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The i-node number is different from the pointed to file
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The link counter of the new symbolic link file is “1”
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Symbolic link file does not affect the link counter of the
pointed to file
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The type field of symblic file contains the letter “l”
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The symbolic link file and the pointed to file have different
status information (e.g. file size, last modification time etc.)

©2005 Raymodn.chan for ULI101

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Create Symbolic Link Directory

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The syntax is the same as linking to a file
ln -s target_directory link_directory
ln --symbolic target_directory link_directory
[uli@seneca week8]$ ls -li
38766 drwxrwxr-x 7 uli uli 168 Oct 29 13:32 courses

[uli@seneca week8]$ ln courses mydir

ln: `courses': hard link not allowed for directory
[uli@seneca week8]$ ln -s courses mydir
[uli@seneca week8]$ ls -li
38766 drwxrwxr-x 7 uli uli 168 Oct 29 13:32 courses
44417 lrwxrwxrwx 1 uli uli 7 Oct 29 15:41 mydir ->
courses
©2005 Raymodn.chan for ULI101
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Directory Listing
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To display the contents in a directory, we normally
use the command “ls -l directory_name”
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Compare the following to commands
[uli@seneca week8]$ ls -l mydir
lrwxrwxrwx 1 uli uli 7 Oct 29 15:41 mydir -> courses

[uli@seneca week8]$ ls -l courses

drwxrwxr-x 2 uli uli 72 Oct 29 11:15 ica101
drwxrwxr-x 2 uli uli 72 Oct 29 11:16 ios110
drwxrwxr-x 2 uli uli 120 Oct 29 11:20 to_do
drwxrwxr-x 2 uli uli 72 Oct 29 11:14 uli101

©2005 Raymodn.chan for ULI101

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Directory Contents of Symbolic Links

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Must use the “-L” option in order to display
directory contents of a symbolic link
Directory
Compare the following commands: Status
[uli@seneca week8]$ ls -l mydir
lrwxrwxrwx 1 uli uli 7 Oct 29 15:41 mydir -> courses
[uli@seneca week8]$ ls -lL mydir
drwxrwxr-x 2 uli uli 72 Oct 29 11:15 ica101
drwxrwxr-x 2 uli uli 72 Oct 29 11:16 ios110
drwxrwxr-x 2 uli uli 120 Oct 29 11:20 to_do
drwxrwxr-x 2 uli uli 72 Oct 29 11:14 uli101 Directory
Contents
©2005 Raymodn.chan for ULI101
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Delete link to a directory

To delete a link to a directory, simply use the “rm”
command:
[uli@seneca week8]$ ls -l
drwxrwxr-x 7 uli uli 168 Oct 29 13:32 courses
lrwxrwxrwx 1 uli uli 7 Oct 29 15:41 mydir -> courses

[uli@seneca week8]$ rm mydir

[uli@seneca week8]$ ls -l
drwxrwxr-x 7 uli uli 168 Oct 29 13:32 courses

©2005 Raymodn.chan for ULI101

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Properties of Symbolic Link Directory

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The Symbolic link to a directory has a file type of
“l” (the first letter of the permission field).
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The permissions on the link are set to “rwx” for
all.
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chmod on the link applies to the actual directory
(or file), the permissions on the link stay the same
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Can point to a nonexistent directory
©2005 Raymodn.chan for ULI101
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Reference
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Hard Links
– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_link
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Symbolic Links
– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbolic_link
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I-nodes
– http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~neilb/oss/linux-commentary/vfs-7.html

– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inode
©2005 Raymodn.chan for ULI101
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Questions and Answers

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What is a filesystem link?
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What is an i-node?
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How do you display the i-node of a file/directory?
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How many kinds of filesystem links are there?
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What is a hard link?
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What is a soft link?
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Can you create a hard link to a directory?
©2005 Raymodn.chan for ULI101
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More Q & A
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How do you create the first hard link to a file?
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How do you create the 2nd (and up) hard link to a
file?
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What is the purpose of a link counter?
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Where can you get the link counter of a file?
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How do you create a soft link to a file?
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Does a soft link file has the same i-node number
©2005 Raymodn.chan for ULI101
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More Q & A
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How do you remove a hard link?
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How do you delete a physical file with multiple
links?
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How do you create a symbolic link to a file?
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How do you create a symbolic link to a directory?
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Could you create a symbolic to a file which does
not exist?
©2005 Raymodn.chan for ULI101
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More Q & A
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How do you display the contents of a regular
directory?
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How do you display the contents of a symbolic
link to a regular directory?
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How do you display the status information of a
regular directory?
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More Q & A ?
©2005 Raymodn.chan for ULI101