What is Hard link and soft link?

Question

Accepted Answer

Hard links and soft links are two types of links used in Unix-like operating systems to create shortcuts to files.

Hard links are direct pointers to the inode of a file, while soft links are indirect pointers to the file name.
Hard links cannot link directories or files on different filesystems, while soft links can.
If the original file is deleted, hard links will still point to the data, while soft links will be broken.
Example: 'ln file1 file2' creates a hard link, 'ln -s file1 file3' creates a soft link.

Accepted Answer

Hard Link-
1. Hard link is like a backup copy i=of the file.
2. Inode no. for the hardlink is same.
3. Hard link can not be created across the partitions.
4. If original file is removed link still contains the data.
#ln /source/destination

Soft Link-
1. Soft link is like a shortcut file.
2. Inode no. is different.
3. Soft link can be created across the parttions.
4. If original file is removed, link gets break and data can not be accessed.
# ln -s /source /destination

What is Hard link and soft link?

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