MkLink : Java Glossary

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©1996-2017 2012-03-10 Roedy Green of Canadian Mind Products

MkLink is a Vista, W2008, W7-32, W7-64, W8-32, W8-64, W2012, W10-32 and W10-64 / Take Command command line utility that lets you build hard links and soft links aka junctions aka symbolic links aka symlinks on your hard disk. Hard links are aliases for files where the alias looks like a normal file somewhere in the directory tree on the same drive as the original file. Soft links are primarily for moving files or directories to other drives without having to modify or inform the programs that use the files. Hard links are implemented as pointers directly to the target file. Soft links are implemented with symbolic names which indirectly point to the target file. Hard links can only be to files. Soft links can be to files or directories.

Linux and Posix-compliant Unix systems also support these links. I don’t know how, though, to create and delete them.

Uses Of MkLink
Purpose Command Notes
Create a file symbolic link MkLink alias.txt existing.txt
Create a directory symbolic link MkLink /D aliasdir existingdir
Create a file hard link MkLink /H alias.txt existing.txt
Create a directory hard link Not possible
Create a file soft link/junction Not possible??
Create a directory soft link/junction MkLink /J E:\aliasdir C:\existingdir
Delete a file link del alias.txt Only after you have deleted all the aliases you can delete the file itself.
Delete a directory link MkLink /X E:\aliasdir Deletes the alias, not the file itself. The file itself can be deleted via the original name or the alias.

Absolute vs Relative

What happens if someone moves the directory of the original or the target? It depends on whether you used absolute or relative names to specify. You can also use the /A option to force absolute. If you must move them, do some experiments to see the effects.

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