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if you unlink a file both the pointer and destination still exist except you can't see them<br />
<br />
for example if /opt/softwareinstall is linked to /extradiskspace/app1 <br />
<br />
when you cd to &nbsp;/opt/softwareinstall you will see everything in &nbsp;/extradiskspace/app1 &nbsp;<br />
<br />
if you remove this link then you will have to go to &nbsp;/extradiskspace/app1 &nbsp;to see the same files and /opt/softwareinstall will be empty<br />
<br />
Be very careful when using unlink if there are dependencies and you unlink you could run into major problems
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if you unlink a file both the pointer and destination still exist except you can't see them

for example if /opt/softwareinstall is linked to /extradiskspace/app1

when you cd to  /opt/softwareinstall you will see everything in  /extradiskspace/app1  

if you remove this link then you will have to go to  /extradiskspace/app1  to see the same files and /opt/softwareinstall will be empty

Be very careful when using unlink if there are dependencies and you unlink you could run into major problems

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Think of unlink as the &quot;raw&quot; version of rm - rm gives you more control over things like properly removing directories, recurive directory removal, error-checking, etc.
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Think of unlink as the "raw" version of rm - rm gives you more control over things like properly removing directories, recurive directory removal, error-checking, etc.

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Hi,<br />
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;I have a normal file which is NOT a soft/hard link. When I say unlink &lt;file name&gt; the file gets removed. Can somebody explain this behaviour? Since the file gets removed is it equalent to rm &lt;file name&gt;.<br />
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;I'm writing a bourne shell script where I have check for only the softlinks and remove it. How do I do it?<br />
Thanx in advance,<br />
- Jacob
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Hi,
     I have a normal file which is NOT a soft/hard link. When I say unlink <file name> the file gets removed. Can somebody explain this behaviour? Since the file gets removed is it equalent to rm <file name>.
     I'm writing a bourne shell script where I have check for only the softlinks and remove it. How do I do it?
Thanx in advance,
- Jacob

difference between unlink and rm

Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 at Bell Labs. Today, it is a modern OS with many commercial flavors and licensees, including FreeBSD, Hewlett-Packard’s UX, IBM AIX and Apple Mac OS-X. Apart from its command-line interface, most UNIX variations support the standardized X Window System for GUIs, with the exception of the Mac OS, which uses a proprietary system.