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Systems & Data Center · Intermediate

Hard Link

An additional directory entry that points to the same inode as an existing file, making both names equal references to the same data.

Definition

Hard links share an inode, so the data persists until the last link is removed. They cannot span filesystems and normally cannot point to directories. The link count shown by ls -l reflects how many hard links exist.

Example

ln report.txt report-copy.txt creates a hard link; both names show the same inode number with ls -i.

Exam tip

Hard links cannot cross filesystems or point to directories; symbolic links can do both.

Don't confuse it with

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