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====== Create or Delete Symbolic Link in Linux and Nginx Server======

[[https://linux.tutorials24x7.com/blog/create-or-delete-symbolic-link-in-linux]]

===== Create Symbolic Link =====

<code>
# Create Symbolic Link - Syntax
ln -s [OPTIONS] FILE LINK

# Example
ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/mydomain.com /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/mydomain.com
</code>

The above command will create a soft link of the file /etc/nginx/sites-available/mydomain.com at /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/mydomain.com so that the file can also be accessed using the path /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/mydomain.com. in this way, we can create a symbolic link without duplicating the file content. We can also create symbolic links for a directory following the same steps.

We can also test whether the file is actual file or symlink as shown below.

<code>
# Test symlink
ls -l <file path>

# Example
ls -l /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/mydomain.com

# Output
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 39 Oct  2 15:16 /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/mydomain.com -> /etc/nginx/sites-available/mydomain.com

# Test regular file
ls -l /etc/nginx/sites-available/mydomain.com

# Output
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1092 Oct  2 15:23 /etc/nginx/sites-available/mydomain.com
</code>

With the above output, we can clearly distinguish whether the file path is a soft link or actual file.

==== Remove Symbolic Link ====

We can remove the soft link by simply deleting it like we delete a normal file. We can also use the command unlink to remove a symlink as shown below. Make sure to perform the symbolic link test before deleting it to ensure that you are not deleting the actual file.

<code>
# Delete Symbolic Link
sudo rm /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/mydomain.com

# Remove Symbolic Link
sudo unlink /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/mydomain.com
</code>

Both the commands delete the symbolic link without deleting the actual file. We can see that we have used the regular command rm to delete the symbolic link.