When I run ls -lrt command on a Unix folder , I get the following output
MyServer> ls -lrt total 10 drwxr-x--- 3 UnixUser other 512 Jul 22 2011 FolderA lrwxrwxrwx 1 UnixUser other 46 Aug 23 2011 BEA -> ../../../Some/Folder/SOLARIS/BEA I am not sure what is BEA in these folders. They do not seem to be files nor folders. Why is there a arrow besides them pointing to somewhere else?
BEA and Perlx.x in these folders are symbolic links. The symbolic link is another name that "points to" the real file.
The option -l tells the command to use a long list format. It gives back several columns wich correspond to:
The first letter in the permissions (lrwxrwxrwx) column show the file's type. l here means a link, A d means a directory and a - means a normal file (there are other characters, but those are the basic ones). The next nine characters are divided into 3 groups, each one a permission. Each letter in a group correspond to the read, write and execute permission, and each group correspond to the owner of the file, the group of the file and then for everyone else.
[ File type ][ Owner permissions ][ Group permissions ][ Everyone permissions ] The characters can be one of four options:
r = read permission w = write permission x = execute permission - = no permission Finally, the + at the end means some extended permissions.
The file in question is a symbolic link. The symbolic link is another name that "points to" the real file.
When you do ls -l it also shows you which file is pointed to by the link. You can actually see:
lrwxrwxrwx ^ |________ `l` here means a link These are called symbolic links in linux (shortcuts in windows)
When you work on them, for eg vim BEA , you will be editing the actual file in ../../../Some/Folder/SOLARIS/BEA
