MacOS: How to “cd” into a symlink?

Question

I have a folder "abc". I create a symlink: ln -s abc abclink. but then, whan I type, cd abclink it says "No such file or directory".

I can see the link, it has "lrwxr-xr-x" permissions, why doesn't it work? How to make it work?

TheCompWiz · Answer 1 · 2012-01-05 20:57:55Z

up vote 2 down vote accepted

Usually when you run into that, your target is invalid. i.e. abc doesn't exist. Yes, you can create symlinks to things that don't exist.

answered Jan 5 at 20:57

	And is it possible to move a symlink around? To create it somewhere, to move it under another folder, while preserving its functionality? – Ecir Hana Jan 5 at 21:19
	As long as the target has a full path... sure. but relative paths may not work so nice. i.e. `ln -s ../some-dir/some-file some-file` vs `ln -s /dir/some-dir/some-file some-file` – TheCompWiz Jan 5 at 21:25
	Well, you can create them...they just don't work. – dmckee Jan 5 at 21:54
	@dmckee: no clue what you're talking about. They do work... maybe not as you wanted them to work. You just need to understand the "why" they're working the way they are. – TheCompWiz Jan 5 at 22:03

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