In Unix/Linux, what are symbolic links?

Symbolic links in Unix/Linux are a type of file that contains a reference to another file or directory in the filesystem. When you create a symbolic link, you're essentially creating a pointer that redirects to the target file or directory. This means that you can access the target through the symbolic link, effectively giving you a way to reference or navigate to the original data without duplicating it.

For example, if you have a file located at /home/user/document.txt and you create a symbolic link named doclink in your current directory, accessing doclink will yield the contents of /home/user/document.txt. This functionality allows for flexibility in file management, such as creating aliases or shortcuts for frequently accessed files or simplifying paths to complex directories.

The concept of symbolic links is different from shortcuts to applications, which may not necessarily involve direct filesystem references. Additionally, symbolic links do not represent executable or compressed files; they are merely pointers, so the other answer choices do not accurately describe what symbolic links are.