Hard Link Vs Soft Link - Geek Ride

6/13/2016
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HardLinkvsSoftLink
Monday,November5th,2012|ByNapster|35Comments(http://www.geekride.com/hardlinkvssoftlink/#comments)
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Once again, one of the very basic question asked in the interviews, What is the difference between Hard links and Soft
links. You can explain few basic things, but emphasizing on internals about the linux filesystem, is something which can
impresstheinterviewer.
WhatisaSoftLinkorSymbolicLinkorSymlink?
Symbolic links or Symlinks are the easiest to understand, because for sure you have used them, at least when you were
using Windows. Soft links are very similar to what we say Shortcut in windows, is a way to link to a file or directory.
Symlinksdoesntcontainanyinformationaboutthedestinationfileorcontentsofthefile,insteadofthat,itsimplycontains
thepointertothelocationofthedestinationfile.Inmoretechnicalwords,insoftlink,anewfileiscreatedwithanewinode,
whichhavethepointertotheinodelocationoftheoriginalfile.Thiscanbebetterexplainedwithadiagram:
(http://www.geekride.com/hardlinkvssoft
link/soft_link/)
Symbolic links are created with the ln command in

linux.Thesyntaxofthecommandis:
$lns
s=Thisflagtellstocreateasymlink(ifyoudontuse
this it will create a hard link, which we will talk about
soon).
ForExample,ifyouwanttocreateasoftlinkofonefo
your favorite application, like gedit, on your desktop,
usethecommandlikethis:
$lns/usr/bin/gedit~/Desktop/gedit
IhopenowtheconceptofSoftLinksshouldbeclear.
WhatisaHardLink?
Hard link is a bit different object when compared to a
symlink. In softlink a new file and a new Inode is
created, but in hard link, only an entry into directory
structure is created for the file, but it points to the
inode location of the original file. Which means there is no new inode creation in the hard link. This can be explained like
this:
http://www.geekride.com/hardlinkvssoftlink/
1/11
6/13/2016
(http://www.geekride.com/hardlinkvssoft
link/hard_link/)
So, in hard link, you are referencing the inode directly

on the disk, which means that there should be a way
to know how many hard links exist to a file. For the
same,intheinodeinformation,youhaveanoptionfor
links, which will tell how many links exists to a file.
You can find the same information by using this
command:
$stat<filename>
$stat01
Size:923383Blocks:1816IOBlock:4096regularfile
Device:803h/2051dInode:12684895Links:3
Access:(0644/rwrr)Uid:(0/root)Gid:(0/root)
Access:2012090701:46:54.0000000000500
Modify:2012042706:22:02.0000000000500
Change:2012042706:22:02.0000000000500
In this example, it means that the specific file have 2
hardlinks,whichmakesthecountto3.
You can create a hard link with the same command
lnlikethis
#ln
So,tocreateahardlinkofgeditprogramonyourdesktop,youwillusethecommandlikethis:
#ln/usr/bin/gedit~/Desktop/gedit
Now,thebiggerquestionis,whowilldecidewhatisbetterandwhentousesoftlinkorhardlink
WhentouseSoftLink:
1.Linkacrossfilesystems:Ifyouwanttolinkfilesacrossthefilesystems,youcanonlyusesymlinks/softlinks.
2.Linkstodirectory:Ifyouwanttolinkdirectories,thenyoumustbeusingSoftlinks,asyoucantcreateahardlinkto
adirectory.
WhentouseHardLink:
1.StorageSpace:Hardlinkstakesverynegligibleamountofspace,astherearenonewinodescreatedwhilecreating
hardlinks.Insoftlinkswecreateafilewhichconsumesspace(usually4KB,dependinguponthefilesystem)
2.Performance:Performancewillbeslightlybetterwhileaccessingahardlink,asyouaredirectlyaccessingthedisk
pointerinsteadofgoingthroughanotherfile.
3.Movingfilelocation:Ifyoumovethesourcefiletosomeotherlocationonthesamefilesystem,thehardlinkwillstill
work,butsoftlinkwillfail.
4.Redundancy:Ifyouwanttomakesuresafetyofyourdata,youshouldbeusinghardlink,asinhardlink,thedatais
safe,untilallthelinkstothefilesaredeleted,insteadofthatinsoftlink,youwilllosethedataifthemasterinstance
ofthefileisdeleted.
Theabovepointsgivesyouasmallideawheretousewhat,butdoesnttellyouthatthosearetheonlyoptions.Everything
2/11
6/13/2016
dependsonyoursetup.
Howfileisdeletedhavinghardlinks:
So,asitsprettyclearfromtheabovearticlethathardlinksarejustthereferencetothemainfilelocation,andevenifyou
deleteonelink,thedatawillstillbeintact.So,toremoveahardlink,youneedtoremoveallthelinks,whicharereferringto
thefile.Oncethelinkcountgoesto0,thentheinodeisremovedbythefilesystem,andfileisdeleted.
FAQs:
Q.WhatistheonelineanswertothequestionWhatisthemaindifferencebetweenhardlinks&softlinks?
A.A softlink will have a different Inode number than the source file, which will be having a pointer to the source file but
hardlinkwillbeusingthesameInodenumberasthesourcefile.
Q.HowcanIfindalltheSoftLinksinmysystem?
A.Usethiscommandforthesamefind/etctypelexeclsli{}\
Q.HowcanIfindallthefileshavingHardLinksinmysystem?
A.Usethiscommandforthesamefind/links+2typefexeclsli{}\
Q.Howtofindwhetherafileisasoftlink?
A.Simplyusingthiscommandlslwilltellyouwhetherafileispointingtosomeotherfileornot.
Q.Howtocheckwhetherafilehaveanysoftlinkpointingtoit?
A.Tillnow,Iamnotawareofanywaytodothat.IfIwillfindany,Iwillsurelyupdatemypost.
Q.HowcanIfindoutthesourcefileofahardlink?
A.No,youcantfindoutthesourcefileofahardlink.Oncehardlinkiscreated,thereisnowaytotellwhichwasthefirst
filecreated.
Q.CanImakeaSoftlinktoaHardlinkandViceVersa?
A.Yes,bothsoftlinksandhardlinksactsasnormalfilesofthefilesystem,soyoucandoboth.
To understand the above article in much better way, you should go through the following article, which will give you much
clearpictureabouttheinodes.
UnderstandingLinux/UnixFilesystemInodes(http://www.geekride.com/understandingunixlinuxfilesysteminodes/)
References:
1.InodesinLinuxFilesystem(http://www.geekride.com/understandingunixlinuxfilesysteminodes/)
2.Techthrob.com(http://techthrob.com/2010/09/26/softlinksvshardlinksaquickexplanation/)
3.maxipedia.com(http://www.maxipedia.com/difference+between+symbolic+link+and+hard+link)
4.lwn.net(http://lwn.net/Articles/294667/)
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed (http://feeds.feedburner.com/GeekRide
LinuxTipsTricksHacks)!!!!
Relatedcontent:
3/11
6/13/2016
1.UnderstandingLinux/UnixFilesystemInode(http://www.geekride.com/understandingunixlinuxfilesystem
inodes/)
2.ForkBomb(http://www.geekride.com/forkbomblinux/)
3.ETAGsvsExpireHeaders(http://www.geekride.com/etagsvsexpireheaders/)
4.TechTip:Monitoringwithkill(http://www.geekride.com/techtipmonitoringwithkill/)
7Comments
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Addacomment...
AndyWoodheadUnixAdministratoratManheim
YoualsoforgottomentionthathardlinksMUSTbeonthesamedisk.
Symlinkscangotodifferentdisks.ALsowithhardlinks,ifyoudeletethefile
youlinkedtothefilestillexistsastherearestilllinkstothedata.Ina
symlink,ifyoudeletethelinkedfileyouwillhaveabrokenlink
LikeReply
2Nov21,201210:53am
HariDhanalakotiVivekanandaSchoolofPGStudies
Nicepost,keepupthegoodwork.
LikeReplyJan7,20155:45pm
SajinVkWorksatProntoSoftware
Howtocheckwhetherafilehaveanysoftlinkpointingtoit?
cantweusethesamecommandwhichisusedtofindsoftlinks
find/typel|xargslsl|grep"file_name"
LikeReplyFeb3,201510:42am
KGuruNathanSupportEngineeratSolartisTechnologyServices
nicepost
LikeReplyJun20,20155:20am
GururajSMorabadWorksatHPInvent
Clearlyunderstood..Goodone
LikeReplyJun30,20152:44pm
Load2morecomments
FacebookCommentsPlugin
{35Comments.....browsethroughorwriteone(#commentform)}
1.bellssays:
November6,2012at7:25PM(http://www.geekride.com/hardlinkvssoftlink/#comment70388)
Inmoretechnicalwords,insoftlink,anewfileiscreatedwithanewinode,whichhavethepointertotheinode
4/11
6/13/2016
locationoftheoriginalfile.
inodelocationandinodenumberdifferent?
whenmoveafile,theinodenumberisnotchange,whataboutinodelocation??
Reply(/hardlinkvssoftlink/?replytocom=70388#respond)
Napstersays:
InodenumberisjusttheaddresswhereInodeislocated.
Takeanexampleofahouseaddress,likeHouseNo110.
So,thelocationoftheHouseisdifferent,butitcanbereachedbyitsnumber,110.
ThatsthesamecasewithInodes.
InLaymansterms,theybotharesame.
Whenafilemoves,boththeinodenumberandtheinodelocationremainssame.
Hopethathelped.
bellssays:
January16,2013at9:37PM(http://www.geekride.com/hardlinkvssoftlink/#comment85631)
thankyou
2.AndyWoodhead(http://www.facebook.com/ActionParsnip)says:
November21,2012at10:53AM(http://www.geekride.com/hardlinkvssoftlink/#comment73683)
YoualsoforgottomentionthathardlinksMUSTbeonthesamedisk.Symlinkscangotodifferentdisks.
ALsowithhardlinks,ifyoudeletethefileyoulinkedtothefilestillexistsastherearestilllinkstothedata.
Inasymlink,ifyoudeletethelinkedfileyouwillhaveabrokenlink:)
Napstersays:
ThanxAndy.
Willupdatemyblog.
3.Connelsays:
Veryinformativeblog.Goodtoread.
4.Elex(http://www.linuxamination.blogspot.in)says:
May17,2013at5:51PM(http://www.geekride.com/hardlinkvssoftlink/#comment115751)
PleasemakechangeinHardLinkDiagram.ItshowsthereSoftLinkCreated.ItshouldbeHardLink
Created.
Beginnerscanbeconfusedbecauseofmisprint.
5/11
6/13/2016
Pleasechangeittohardlink.
Thanks
Regards
Elex
5.Moneybags(http://finance.google.com/)says:
September19,2013at2:32AM(http://www.geekride.com/hardlinkvssoftlink/#comment146272)
Inyoursecondgraphic,IthinkyoushouldnotcallwhatisvisibletotheuseraSoftLinkitsconfusing.
RecommendyoucallthatboxjustLinksinceallhardlinksareactuallynormalfilelinksanyway(theresno
differencebetweentheoriginalfileandthesecondlink).
6.RoseHosting(http://www.rosehosting.com)says:
October27,2013at3:23AM(http://www.geekride.com/hardlinkvssoftlink/#comment156432)
Excellentwaytoexplainthings.Maybeonthehardlinksillustrationdiagramtheuservisiblepartshouldve
stateLinkCreatedorsimilarratherthanSoftLinkCreated,buthowever,veryslickwaytorepresent
thedifferences.Nicepost,keepupthegoodwork.
Regards!
7.Miguel(http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003451581988)says:
December28,2013at8:26PM(http://www.geekride.com/hardlinkvssoftlink/#comment186519)
overcurrentchangemeansthatyourUSBportcaonntsustainthediskenergyrequirements.IthinkUSB
portshaveamaximum500mAouptut(andsomelaptopsevenless).IhaveaUSB3GmodemwithaY
cablethatgetsenergyfromtwoUSBports.MyDelllaptophas4USBportsandthemodemonlyworkswith2of
themtheother2caonntgiveenoughcurrent.AndifyouhavemoreUSBdevices,theyalladdup.Tryremovingall
otherUSBdevicesorusingaexternalpoweredUSBhubbetweenyoulaptop/PCandthedisk.
8.
seoconsultancyservices
(http://www.planetaprodental.com/forum/your_seo_assistance_moral_web_optimization_and_competitor_monitoring)
says:
February26,2014at1:38PM(http://www.geekride.com/hardlinkvssoftlink/#comment211930)
allthetimeiusedtoreadsmallerarticlesorreviewsthatalsocleartheirmotive,andthatisalsohappeningwiththis
post
whichIamreadingnow.
9.notdave(http://jabber.me)says:
March3,2014at3:01PM(http://www.geekride.com/hardlinkvssoftlink/#comment214607)
/bits/now/tvshowhere
IwanttoaddtoexportsforNFSserverbutwithoutusingquotesorbackslashtoovercomespaces
6/11
6/13/2016
ubuntu:rightclick,makelink,renameto
/bits/now/thatoneshow
usingthatin/etc/exportsforNFSserver.
restartNFSserver:complainsaboutspaces!?!?
10.Chloie(http://url.sorgol.com/3s)says:
March20,2014at12:18AM(http://www.geekride.com/hardlinkvssoftlink/#comment234522)
Thisisamemototheadmin.IcametoyourpageviaBingbutitwashardtofindasyouwerenotonthe
firstpageofsearchresults.Iknowyoucouldhavemorevisitorstoyourwebsite.Ihavefoundacompany
whichofferstodramaticallyincreaseyourrankingsandtraffictoyoursite:http://ppbw.de/p79azImanagedtoget
closeto1000visitors/dayusingtheirservices,youcouldalsogetalotmoretargetedtrafficfromGooglethanyou
havenow.Theirservicesbroughtsignificantlymorevisitorstomysite.Ihopethishelps!
11.svgsays:
Q.HowcanIfindallthefileshavingHardLinksinmysystem?
A.Usethiscommandforthesamefind/links+2typefexeclsli{}\
Ibelievethisisincorrect.Itshouldbe+1(not+2)meaningMORETHAN1link.Ifyouuse+2,youwillgetalistof
inodesthathave3ormorelinks.Itstricky.Itsnot>=(asyouwouldexpect).Itsjust>.
Thanksfortheterrificpost.Ineededalinkrefresher.)
12.largechickencoop(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6gPWCqPDdE)says:
April29,2014at8:46PM(http://www.geekride.com/hardlinkvssoftlink/#comment263446)
Youmightalsodiscoverthataneggortwohasbeencrackedopen.
Dependingontheclimateaswellasthebreeds,some
hensyieldevenmoreorperhapsmuchlesseggs
13.Aravindsays:
July31,2014at7:23PM(http://www.geekride.com/hardlinkvssoftlink/#comment327555)
Q.Howtocheckwhetherafilehaveanysoftlinkpointingtoit?
A.Tillnow,Iamnotawareofanywaytodothat.IfIwillfindany,Iwillsurelyupdatemypost.
Answer:Ithink,aftercreatingasoftlink,ifwedolsl,theoutputshowstheletterlatbeginingwherethe
permissionsareshown.
Napstersays:
HiAravind
Youareanswering,howtocheckwhetherthefile/directoryyouareseeingisasoftlinkorarealfile/directory.I
7/11
6/13/2016
wascuriousaboutwhetherthereisawaytoknowatthesource,whetherthereisasymlinkpointingtoit.
14.Pallabsays:
September17,2014at6:25PM(http://www.geekride.com/hardlinkvssoftlink/#comment369157)
Hi,
Thanksforsharingtheinfo:)
Onecommentregthepost,
2ndimageisshowingassoftlinkbutitshouldbehardlink
15.venkisays:
October15,2014at4:11PM(http://www.geekride.com/hardlinkvssoftlink/#comment391361)
Greatarticleandwellexplained.Cheers
16.Johnsays:
December12,2014at8:46AM(http://www.geekride.com/hardlinkvssoftlink/#comment416021)
Veryhelpful,clearexamplesandagooddidactictone.Theusageconditionexplanationwasuseful.
17.HariDhanalakoti(https://www.facebook.com/hari.dhanalakoti)says:
Nicepost,keepupthegoodwork.
18.ShellScript|dhirendrainterviewprepare(https://dhirendrainterviewprepare.wordpress.com/2015/01/30/shellscript/)
says:
[]http://www.geekride.com/hardlinkvssoftlink/[]
19.SajinVk(https://www.facebook.com/app_scoped_user_id/10152701522946158/)says:
February3,2015at10:42AM(http://www.geekride.com/hardlinkvssoftlink/#comment416200)
20.SajinVk(https://www.facebook.com/app_scoped_user_id/10152701522946158/)says:
February3,2015at10:42AM(http://www.geekride.com/hardlinkvssoftlink/#comment416201)
8/11
6/13/2016
21.Whatisthedifferencebetweenahardlinkandasymboliclink?(http://popularubuntuquestions.com/whatisthe
differencebetweenahardlinkandasymboliclink/)says:
April27,2015at2:17PM(http://www.geekride.com/hardlinkvssoftlink/#comment416989)
[]noobandexWindozeuserfriendlyexplanation,withnicediagramsandaFAQcheckoutthispage
http://www.geekride.com/hardlinkvssoftlink/.Theircopyrightrestrictionspreventmefromexcerptingtheirstuff,so
sufficeitthatIprovide[]
22.zaidrashwani(http://zrashwani.com)says:
May24,2015at12:28AM(http://www.geekride.com/hardlinkvssoftlink/#comment417349)
veryinformativeandclearexplanation,
Thankyou
23.KGuruNathan(https://www.facebook.com/app_scoped_user_id/971582289560795/)says:
June19,2015at11:50PM(http://www.geekride.com/hardlinkvssoftlink/#comment417471)
nicepost
24.GururajSMorabad(https://www.facebook.com/app_scoped_user_id/10153007259707898/)says:
June30,2015at9:14AM(http://www.geekride.com/hardlinkvssoftlink/#comment417481)
Clearlyunderstood..Goodone
25.HowtoinstallDBFitonEC2|OptimalDataEngine(http://www.ode.ninja/howtoinstalldbfitonec2/)says:
July8,2015at1:27AM(http://www.geekride.com/hardlinkvssoftlink/#comment417491)
[]links,whicharelikeshortcutsinwindows.Thereissomethinginthebootsequencewhichrequiressymbolic
ratherthanhardlinks./etc/init.disthefolderfor[]
26.NaveenGupta(https://www.facebook.com/app_scoped_user_id/929868403744563/)says:
August8,2015at4:17AM(http://www.geekride.com/hardlinkvssoftlink/#comment417559)
NycExplanation
27.Ubuntu:Whatisthedifferencebetweenahardlinkandasymboliclink?UbuntuLinuxQuestions
(http://ubuntu.itsprite.com/ubuntuwhatisthedifferencebetweenahardlinkandasymboliclink/)says:
October13,2015at10:30PM(http://www.geekride.com/hardlinkvssoftlink/#comment417731)
[]noobandexWindozeuserfriendlyexplanation,withnicediagramsandaFAQcheckoutthispage
http://www.geekride.com/hardlinkvssoftlink/.Theircopyrightrestrictionspreventmefromexcerptingtheirstuff,so
sufficeitthatIprovide[]
28.HuangJie(https://www.facebook.com/app_scoped_user_id/852021814895352/)says:
November11,2015at10:55AM(http://www.geekride.com/hardlinkvssoftlink/#comment417841)
veryclearexplanation
9/11
6/13/2016
29.lnlnsfs.symlinkrequireIT (http://tech.itdadao.com/8953.html)says:
30.lnlnsfs.symlinkrequire| (http://www.shellsec.com/news/23427.html)says:
31.Mausamsays:
May30,2016at10:51PM(http://www.geekride.com/hardlinkvssoftlink/#comment418045)
Explationisverygoos
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Symbolic links are created with the ln command in

So, in hard link, you are referencing the inode directly

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