A Step-by-Step Guide to Confirming the Success of a Symlink Creation in Raspberry Pi

Learn how to check if your symlink worked correctly in Raspberry Pi. This simple guide will help you troubleshoot and resolve any issues that may arise during the process. …

Updated September 14, 2023

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Learn how to check if your symlink worked correctly in Raspberry Pi. This simple guide will help you troubleshoot and resolve any issues that may arise during the process.

To check if your symlink worked on Raspberry Pi, follow these steps:

Open a terminal window by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T or searching for the terminal application in the menu.
Navigate to the directory where you created the symlink using the cd command. For example, if your symlink is located in the /home/pi/ directory, type:
```
cd /home/pi/
```
List the contents of the directory using the ls -l command to see if the symlink appears in the output. This will show you all files and directories, along with their permissions, ownership, size, and other information:
```
ls -l
```
Look for your symlink in the list of files and directories. It should have a -> arrow indicating that it is a symbolic link. For example, if you created a symlink named my_symlink, you would see an output like this:
```
lrwxrwxrwx 1 pi pi    7 Jul 29 09:38 my_symlink -> target_directory/
```
In this example, my_symlink is a symlink pointing to the target_directory.
If your symlink does not appear in the list or has a different name than expected, it may not have been created correctly. Check the command you used to create the symlink and make sure there were no errors. You can also try creating the symlink again using the ln -s command:
```
ln -s target_directory my_symlink
```
Replace target_directory with the directory you want to link to, and my_symlink with the name you want your symlink to have.
If your symlink appears in the list but you cannot access its contents, ensure that the permissions are set correctly. You can check this using the ls -l command again. The symlink should have read and execute permissions for all users (rwxrwxrwx). If not, adjust the permissions using the chmod command:
```
chmod 777 my_symlink
```
Finally, test your symlink by trying to access its contents. For example, if your symlink is a directory, use the cd command to navigate into it:
```
cd my_symlink
```
If you can successfully access the contents of the symlink, then your symlink is working correctly on Raspberry Pi. Otherwise, there may be an issue with the target directory or file. Check its permissions and ensure it exists in the correct location.

Remember that a symlink only creates a reference to another file or directory and does not duplicate its contents. If you delete the original file or directory, your symlink will no longer work. So be sure to keep the target files and directories safe and backed up.