http://www.unixmen.com/hard-soft-links-user-group-management-rhcsa/ hard-links: Note: you can't make a hard-link to a directory Note2: hard-links to a same file should be on the same file system ls -i Show the i-node of (if 2 files have the same one - they are the hard-links) ls -l -//- the 2n-d column shows the number of hard links soft-links: Note: you can create a soft-link to a directory ln -s ... create a soft link ls -F show type of files: / - dir * - exec file @ - symlink | - named pipe = - unix domain socket % - character device # - block device ls -x Order files by rows first, instead of columns