A symbolic link is a type of file that contains reference to another file or directory in the form of a path. It is a file system object that refers and points towards another file system object.

Symbolic links are primarily used by operating systems in pointing or linking file system-level objects. They are mainly designed to help in migrating and porting applications on different operating system platforms. Typically, a symbolic link contains a text string that contains the path to another file or directory. The file or directory it points toward is known as the target and it can exist on a different disk volume or file system. Most operating systems including UNIX, Mac OS and Windows support symbolic links.