A symbolic link is a file on one computer that points to a file or directory on a local or remote file system.
To the user, the symbolic link appears in directory listings and looks like what it represents: a folder or a file. You can use symbolic links to assign a file to a directory without actually copying the file to that directory. The operating system interprets the symbolic link and locates the target file or directory.
To create a symbolic link, use the Interix ln utility.
Valid UNIX symbolic links include relative paths, such as directory/file. They also include absolute paths, such as /net/nfsserver/nfsshare/directory/file (for a path on an unmounted file system exported on a UNIX network file system (NFS) server), and /dev/fs/mountpoint/directory/file (for a path on a mounted file system exported on a UNIX or Windows NFS server). Note that you must use UNIX path syntax when creating the symbolic link; Windows path syntax (such as \\nfsserver\nfsshare) will not resolve properly. Also, to access files on a Windows server (including files shared through Server for NFS), you must first mount the remote file system.
All file and directory operations except rename and delete are redirected to the target of the symbolic link. For Client for NFS to resolve a symbolic link, the target file or directory must be in an exported directory that those using the link have permission to access. When listing directories that contain symbolic links, Client for NFS always displays the attributes for the target file or directory.