soft link
also: symbolic link, symlink
A soft link (symbolic link) is a special file that points to another file or directory by storing its path, rather than directly referencing its data. Unlike hard links, soft links can point across filesystems and to directories.
A soft link, also called a symbolic link or symlink, is a lightweight pointer file that contains the path to another file or directory. When you access a soft link, the system reads the path it contains and follows it to the actual target file.
You create soft links using ln -s. For example, ln -s /usr/bin/python3 python creates a symbolic link named python that points to /usr/bin/python3. Accessing python automatically redirects to the target.
Soft links are more flexible than hard links: they can point across different filesystems, reference directories, and even point to non-existent paths (creating "broken" links). However, if the target file is deleted, the soft link becomes broken and no longer works.