Notes from Jacob K:

ln, link: make links, by default makes hard links

ls: list directory contents

rm, unlink, remove directory entries

stat, readlink: display file status

symbolic link: contains the name of the file to which it is linked, basically just a pointer to the original file/directory

hard link: a file that is indistinguishable from the original directory entry and any changes to a file are effectively independent of the name used to reference the file.

create links:

symbolic link - use -s

hard link - ln defaults to creating hard links

ln [-fhinsv] source_file [target_file]

ln [-fhinsv] source_file ... target_dir (... stands for multiple directories)

link source_file target_file

view links:

ls -H follows symbolic links

ls -L list the file or directory the symbolic link references rather than the link itself.

ls -P lists the link itself rather than the object the link references if it's symbolic

ls -l is the long format which also lists symbolic links

remove links:

rm removes symbolic links and not the files referenced by the links

unlink file (must be a file name and not a directory)

resolve a low disk space issue using a symbolic link:

create a symbolic link from the large file to some tmp space?

ln -s big_file /var/tmp/big_file.tmp