Applies to: desktop apps only
Creates a symbolic link.
To perform this operation as a transacted operation, use the CreateSymbolicLinkTransacted function.
Syntax
BOOLEAN WINAPI CreateSymbolicLink( __in LPTSTR lpSymlinkFileName, __in LPTSTR lpTargetFileName, __in DWORD dwFlags );
Parameters
- lpSymlinkFileName [in]
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The symbolic link to be created.
- lpTargetFileName [in]
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The name of the target for the symbolic link to be created.
If lpTargetFileName has a device name associated with it, the link is treated as an absolute link; otherwise, the link is treated as a relative link.
- dwFlags [in]
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Indicates whether the link target, lpTargetFileName, is a directory.
Value Meaning - 0x0
The link target is a file.
- SYMBOLIC_LINK_FLAG_DIRECTORY
- 0x1
The link target is a directory.
Return value
If the function succeeds, the return value is nonzero.
If the function fails, the return value is zero. To get extended error information, call GetLastError.
Remarks
Symbolic links can either be absolute or relative links. Absolute links are links that specify each portion of the path name; relative links are determined relative to where relative–link specifiers are in a specified path. Relative links are specified using the following conventions:
- Dot (. and ..) conventions—for example, "..\" resolves the path relative to the parent directory.
- Names with no slashes (\)—for example, "tmp" resolves the path relative to the current directory.
- Root relative—for example, "\Windows\System32" resolves to "current drive:\Windows\System32".
- Current working directory–relative—for example, if the current
working directory is C:\Windows\System32, "C:File.txt" resolves to
"C:\Windows\System32\File.txt".
Note If you specify a current working directory–relative link, it is created as an absolute link, due to the way the current working directory is processed based on the user and the thread.
To remove a symbolic link, delete the file (using DeleteFile or similar APIs) or remove the directory (using RemoveDirectory or similar APIs) depending on what type of symbolic link is used.
Requirements
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Minimum supported client | Windows Vista |
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Minimum supported server | Windows Server 2008 |
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Header |
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Library |
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DLL |
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Unicode and ANSI names | CreateSymbolicLinkW (Unicode) and CreateSymbolicLinkA (ANSI) |
See also
Send comments about this topic to Microsoft
Build date: 4/17/2012
And how do you remove a symbolic link?
There seems to be no function RemoveSymbolicLink or DeleteSymbolicLink.
[Noelle Mallory - MSFT] Please post questions to the MSDN Forums at http://forums.microsoft.com/msdn. You will likely get a quicker response through the forum than through the Community Content.