symbolic link


Symbolic Link

(file format)(SYLK) A Microsoft file format forspreadsheets, (not to be confused with symbolic link).

SYLK format existed in one form or another in as early as1987, and was part of Excel v1.0. It is is an outgrowth ofVisiCalc DIF file format.

SYLK format is ascii text and represents information aboutboth formula, value, and some formatting information, whichmakes it something like an RTF for spreadsheets. It is usedas a general tabular data exchange format.

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symbolic link

(file system)(Or "symlink", "soft link" (by contrast with"hard link"), "shortcut", "alias") A special type ofUnix file which refers to another file by its pathname. Asymbolic link is created with the "ln" (link) command:

ln -s OLDNAME NEWNAME

Where OLDNAME is the target of the link (usually a pathname)and NEWNAME is the pathname of the link itself.

Most operations (open, read, write) on the symbolic linkautomatically dereference it and operate on its target(OLDNAME). Some operations (e.g. removing) work on the linkitself (NEWNAME).

In contrast with hard links, there are no restrictions onwhere a symbolic link can point, it can refer to a file onanother file system, to itself or to a file which does noteven exist (e.g. when the target of the symlink is removed).Such problems will only be detected when the link is accessed.

symbolic link

In Unix, a file that points to another file or directory. It is used to allow a variety of sources to point to a common destination. The Windows 2000 counterpart is the "virtual directory." When URLs are redirected, it is called "URL mapping." A symbolic link is like a Windows shortcut, except that the link is an index entry in the Unix file system, whereas the shortcut is a regular Windows file. See redirection.