How do I break or delete a symbolic link?

Question

I created a link using the following command.

sudo ln -fs /usr/share/icons/Cyclone/cursor.theme etc/alternatives/x-cursor-theme

I now want to delete this link, as it seems to create some problems. Is this done by deleting the cursor.theme file? What are the steps to achieve a complete deletion?

score 19 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 06 '11 at 20:32

19

unlink /etc/alternatives/x-cursor-theme

You may also be interested in update-alternates

update-alternatives --config x-cursor-theme

answered Dec 06 '11 at 20:32

Panther

104,796

what do you mean by update-alternates ???is it like updating the link??? – Black Block Dec 06 '11 at 20:36
That command will give you a menu to select your mouse cursor theme. – Panther Dec 06 '11 at 21:57
Note that, while this answer is correct, unlink is not limited to removing symbolic links. It will also delete ordinary files, same as rm. In particular, users should be aware that unlink is in no way safer than the widely used rm command. (Unlink simply "avoids the bells and whistles of the more commonly-used rm command".) – Eliah Kagan Apr 09 '15 at 05:17

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 06 '11 at 21:51

3

The answer is:

sudo rm /etc/alternatives/x-cursor-theme

answered Dec 06 '11 at 21:51

what are you talking about this is one of the system files if i delete it will crash something. – Black Block Dec 06 '11 at 22:34
The system file is at /usr/share/icons/Cyclone/cursor.theme , and will be unaffected. The link is at /etc/alternatives/x-cursor-theme , and will be removed. – user535733 Dec 06 '11 at 22:38
1

You asked how to delete a symbolic link. That's how. :) The system file is not changed, but the symbolic link, destroyed. – Dec 06 '11 at 23:17
bodhi.zazen shows you how to choose a new one with 'update-alternatives' I bet it even changes the value of the symlink. – Dec 06 '11 at 23:22
I'm late to the party.. but one way you know this works without affecting the source file is that it's not specifying recursion with -r. You can't delete a directory with rm unless you use -r. Sudo won't even remove it. – ninja08 Mar 29 '17 at 20:37

How do I break or delete a symbolic link?

2 Answers2