Symbolic links (symlinks) are special files that act as pointers to other files or directories. They're widely used in Linux/Unix systems for creating shortcuts or maintaining multiple references to a single file. Unlike hard links, symlinks can cross filesystem boundaries and link to directories.

The most straightforward way to view a symlink's target is using the ls command with the -l option:

ls -l /root/Public/myothertextfile.txt

This will display output like:

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 Jan 1 10:00 myothertextfile.txt -> /root/Public/mytextfile.txt

The arrow (->) indicates the symlink target.

For scripting purposes or when you need just the target path without additional information, readlink is the preferred tool:

readlink /root/Public/myothertextfile.txt

Output:

/root/Public/mytextfile.txt

For more complex scenarios, consider these approaches:

# Follow all symlinks recursively
readlink -f /root/Public/myothertextfile.txt

# Canonicalize path (resolve all symlinks)
readlink -e /root/Public/myothertextfile.txt

# Check if multiple files are symlinks
file /root/Public/myothertextfile.txt /another/file

Here's how you might use these commands in a real-world script:

#!/bin/bash

LINK="/root/Public/myothertextfile.txt"
TARGET=$(readlink "$LINK")

if [ -z "$TARGET" ]; then
    echo "Error: $LINK is not a symlink" >&2
    exit 1
fi

if [ ! -e "$TARGET" ]; then
    echo "Warning: Target $TARGET doesn't exist" >&2
fi

echo "Symlink $LINK points to $TARGET"

Sometimes you might encounter:

• Broken symlinks (target doesn't exist)
• Recursive symlinks (A->B->A)
• Relative path symlinks

Use readlink -f to handle most edge cases properly.

Other commands that can display symlink information:

# Using stat
stat -c %N /root/Public/myothertextfile.txt

# Using find to locate symlinks
find /root/Public -type l -exec ls -la {} \;

Symbolic links (symlinks) are special files that act as pointers to other files or directories. They're incredibly useful for creating shortcuts or maintaining multiple references to a single file.

There are several command-line tools available in Linux to inspect symbolic links:

# Basic ls command with -l flag
ls -l /path/to/symlink

# Using readlink command
readlink /path/to/symlink

# Using stat command
stat /path/to/symlink

Let's examine each method with practical examples:

# Create a sample symlink
ln -s /var/log/syslog ~/syslog_link

# Method 1: Using ls -l
ls -l ~/syslog_link
# Output: lrwxrwxrwx 1 user user 13 Jun 1 10:00 /home/user/syslog_link -> /var/log/syslog

# Method 2: Using readlink
readlink ~/syslog_link
# Output: /var/log/syslog

# Method 3: Using stat
stat ~/syslog_link
# Output shows the link target in the information display

For scripts and automation, you might want these variations:

# Get absolute path of target
readlink -f ~/syslog_link

# Check if a file is symlink
if [ -L ~/syslog_link ]; then
    echo "This is a symbolic link"
fi

# Find all symlinks in a directory
find /path/to/dir -type l -exec ls -la {} \;

Remember these important notes:

• Broken symlinks will still show the original target path
• Circular references can occur if not careful
• Permissions on symlinks behave differently than regular files

Here's a practical script to check multiple symlinks:

#!/bin/bash

check_symlinks() {
    for link in "$@"; do
        if [ -L "$link" ]; then
            echo "Link: $link"
            echo "Target: $(readlink "$link")"
            echo ""
        else
            echo "$link is not a symbolic link"
        fi
    done
}

# Usage
check_symlinks ~/syslog_link ~/another_link /etc/alternatives/java

This script will output the target of each symlink passed as argument, or indicate if the file isn't a symlink.