1.9 Links

Question 2

What is an inode?

Answer 2

The inode is used to store basic information about a file in a linux filesystem. It includes

• Size
• Device
• Owner
• Permissions

Question 3

What is the difference between a hard link and a symbolic link?

Answer 3

• A hard link is a duplicate entry in the file system that points to a specific piece of data on the disk drive. It is indistinguishable from the oringinal file.
• A symbolic link points to another file system entry (the original), which in turn points to the contents (data) of the file.

Question 4

How can you identify a symbolic link when using the ls -l command?

Answer 4

A symbolic link has a lower-case L as the first character in the permission string. For example, lrwxrwxrwx.

Question 5

Which type of link is similar to shortcuts in Windows?

Answer 5

Symbolic links are similar to shortcuts in Windows

Question 6

Which utilities can you use to create links?

Answer 6

Utilities to create links include ln and cp.

Question 7

What is a hard link?

Answer 7

A hard link is a duplicate entry in the file system that points to a specific piece of data on the disk drive.

Question 8

What are the features of a hard link?

Answer 8

• Points to the inode of an existing file.
• Is indistinguishable from the original file.
• Maintains a valid inode for the file data even if the original file is deleted.
• Has a dash (-) as the first character in the permission string (which is the same for original files). For example, -rwxr-xr-x.

Question 9

What is a symbolic link?

Answer 9

A symbolic link (also known as a soft link) is a file system entry that points to another file system entry, which in turn points to a valid piece of data.

Question 10

What are the features of a symbolic link?

Answer 10

• Has a distinct inode.
• Can work across volumes and file systems.
• Is similar to shortcuts in the Windows OS.
• Has a lower-case L (l) as the first character in the permission string. For example, lrwxrwxrwx indicates a symbolic link.

Question 11

What does the command ln do?

Answer 11

ln creates links to files. With no options, creates hard links.

Question 12

What does the command ln -s do?

Answer 12

ln -s creates a symbolic link to a file or directory.

Question 13

What does the command ln -b do?

Answer 13

ln -b creates a backup of a file.

Question 14

What does the command ln -i do?

Answer 14

ln -i determines the inode for hard or symbolic links.

Question 15

What does the command cp -l do?

Answer 15

cp -l creates hard links to the files being copied rather than copying the files.

Question 16

What does the command cp -s do?

Answer 16

cp -s creates symbolic links to the files being copied rather than copying the files.