Symbolic links are similar to aliases, in the sense that they are shortcuts that link to a specific file or folder. But symbolic links are often more useful than aliases: For example, if you put an ...

For most Unix users, symbolic links are obvious and natural — a means to make connections that span file systems and avoid the need to keep duplicates of files in multiple file system locations.

When you work with the command line, you’ll notice that you cannot navigate “into” aliases created with the Finder when in Terminal. For example, you cannot issue a cd command into an alias, because ...