Page "Symbolic link" Paragraph 2

A symbolic link contains a text string that is automatically interpreted and followed by the operating system as a path to another file or directory.

This other file or directory is called the " target ".

The symbolic link is a second file that exists independently of its target.

If a symbolic link is deleted, its target remains unaffected.

If a symbolic link points to a target, and sometime later that target is moved, renamed or deleted, the symbolic link is not automatically updated or deleted, but continues to exist and still points to the old target, now a non-existing location or file.

Symbolic links pointing to moved or non-existing targets are sometimes called broken, orphaned, dead, or dangling.