Link Me Up, Scotty: A Raspberry Pi Guide to the ln Command

Aaron Rose

3 min read

What is ln and why should you care?

On your Raspberry Pi — or any Linux system — everything is a file. Your documents, your devices, even your directories. And sometimes, instead of copying the same file around like a digital packrat, you can just link to it. Enter the ln command: it creates links, which are kind of like aliases or pointers to the real file. But not all links are created equal.

There are two types: hard links and soft links (also called symbolic links or symlinks). Both serve different purposes, and once you understand how they behave, you’ll find them incredibly useful for organizing your filesystem like a pro.

Think of a hard link as giving two names to the same file — like calling one photo birthday.jpg and another cake.jpg. They’re both pointing to the same saved image on disk. A symlink, on the other hand, is like a signpost that says, “the file is over there.” If the original disappears, the signpost just points to empty air.

Hard links: Twins that share the same soul

When you make a hard link with:

ln file1.txt file2.txt

you’re creating another name for the same file. Both filenames point directly to the same chunk of data on your disk — the same inode. You can verify this by listing with the -li flags:

ls -li file1.txt file2.txt

You’ll see that both files have the same inode number. That’s the secret handshake proving they’re truly one and the same.

Try it on your Pi:

echo "hello, Pi" > original.txt
ln original.txt twin.txt

Now delete original.txt:

rm original.txt

Then peek into twin.txt:

cat twin.txt

Still there! Because that data was never tied to just one name. Hard links can’t cross filesystem boundaries, and they don’t work on directories (for good reason), but when you want redundancy without duplication, they shine.

Soft links (symlinks): Symbolic sidekicks

A symlink is more flexible. You create one like this:

ln -s original.txt shortcut.txt

This makes a little file that says, “Hey, the real deal is called original.txt.” It doesn’t point to the inode—it points to the name. If original.txt is deleted, the shortcut still exists—but it won’t lead anywhere. You’ll get an error if you try to open it, because the path it was referencing is gone.

Symlinks are great for managing projects, connecting config files, or creating simple shortcuts to make your workspace more logical. They can even link to directories and cross filesystems — things hard links can’t do.

Want to check if something is a symlink? Use ls -l and look for the little arrow:

ls -l

It’ll show something like:

shortcut.txt -> original.txt

When to use which

Use a hard link when you need multiple names for the same file within the same filesystem — and you don’t want one name disappearing to ruin the party. Use a symlink when you want flexibility, especially across folders, drives, or even when pointing to directories.

After experimenting, go ahead and clean up your test files:

rm twin.txt shortcut.txt

That’s the power of ln—a tiny command with big usefulness, especially on your Raspberry Pi where space and clarity matter. Whether you're linking config files or just trying to understand how Linux handles names and files, this is a tool worth knowing.

Need Raspberry Pi Expertise?

We’d love to help you with your Raspberry Pi projects. Feel free to reach out! Contact us at info@pacificw.com.

Written by Aaron Rose

Software engineer and technology blogger.