Linux System - Table 10 > Packages - Table 10 > hardlink

In computing, a hard link is a directory entry that associates a name with a file on a file system. A directory is itself a special kind of file that contains a list of such entries. The term is particular to file systems which allow multiple hard links to be created for the same file. This has the effect of creating multiple names for the same file, causing an aliasing effect: if the file is opened by one of its names, and changes are made to its content, then these changes will also be visible when the file is opened by an alternative name. By contrast, a soft link on such filesystems is not a link to a file itself, but to a file name; this also creates aliasing, but in a different way.