---
tags:
  - Programming_Languages
  - shell
  - aliases
---


 > 
 > A symbolic link, also termed a soft link, is a special kind of file that points to another file. Unlike a hard link, a symbolic link does not contain the data in the target file. It simply points to another entry somewhere in the file system.

# Syntax

````
ln -s -f ~/[existing_file] ~/.[file_you_want_to_symbolise]
````

Real example:

````
ln -s -f ~/dotfiles/.vimrc ~/.vimrc
````