Which of the following is the Linux equivalent of a shortcut?

• A. Alias
• B. Symbolic link
• C. Hard link
• D. Shortcut

Answer: (B)

In Linux, a shortcut is implemented as a symbolic link. A symbolic link is a special file that stores a path to another file or directory; when you access the link, the system follows that path to the target, so you interact with the target as if you opened it directly. You create it with a command like ln -s target linkname, and it can point across filesystems and can reference directories as well. This differs from an alias, which is a shell-level shortcut that expands a command before execution and isn’t a filesystem object; and from a hard link, which is another directory entry for the same inode (sharing the same data, not just pointing to a pathname) and cannot cross filesystem boundaries or reference directories.