- A symbolic link is a pointer to another file or directory. It can be used just like the original file or directory.
- A common use of symbolic links at Athena is to create redirects to /www directories.
User mrhalp has created a page in his /www directory. He would like visitors to use the URL "http://web.mit.edu/mrhalp" rather than "http://web.mit.edu/mrhalp/www".
Rather than have multiple copies of his site, mrhalp can create a symbolic link in the /mrhalp that points to /mrhalp/www/index.html.
ln -s TARGET-DIRECTORY-OR-FILE SHORTCUT
Ex. (Working directory is /afs/athena.mit.edu/user/m/r/mrhalp/)
athena% ln -s ~/www/index.html index.html