Python 3: Create a Symbolic Link (Symlink)

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This article shows how to create a symbolic link ("symlink" for short) using Python 3. The code below works on Unix-like operating systems like Linux and macOS. Windows compatibility is discussed here.

On Python versions 3.4 and higher, we can create a symbolic link at mylink that points to a file or directory target mytarget by writing:

from pathlib import Path

p = Path( 'mylink' )
p.symlink_to( 'mytarget' )

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from pathlib import Path

p = Path( 'mylink' )
p.symlink_to( 'mytarget' )

Combining it into one line, we can write:

from pathlib import Path

Path( 'mylink' ).symlink_to( 'mytarget' )

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from pathlib import Path

Path( 'mylink' ).symlink_to( 'mytarget' )

The above examples use relative paths, which depend on the script user's current directory. We can also use absolute paths instead, like:

from pathlib import Path

p = Path( '/home/ubuntu/mylink' )
p.symlink_to( '/home/ubuntu/mytarget' )

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from pathlib import Path

p = Path( '/home/ubuntu/mylink' )
p.symlink_to( '/home/ubuntu/mytarget' )

We can also pass in a pathlib.Path instead of a string to symlink_to:

from pathlib import Path

link = Path( 'mylink' )
target = Path( 'mytarget' )
link.symlink_to( target )

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from pathlib import Path

link = Path( 'mylink' )
target = Path( 'mytarget' )
link.symlink_to( target )

On any version of Python 3 (or, if you're using Windows, Python 3.2 or higher), we can use the built-in os library to create a symbolic link. To create a symbolic link at mylink that points to a file or directory target mytarget, we can write:

import os

os.symlink( 'mytarget', 'mylink' )

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import os

os.symlink( 'mytarget', 'mylink' )

The above example uses relative paths, which depend on the script user's current directory. We can also use absolute paths instead, like:

import os

os.symlink(
    '/home/ubuntu/mytarget',
    '/home/ubuntu/mylink' )

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import os

os.symlink(
    '/home/ubuntu/mytarget',
    '/home/ubuntu/mylink' )

The code examples in this article work properly on Unix-like operating systems like Linux and macOS.

On Windows, the code examples will work properly if you are using Python 3.8 or higher on an up-to-date version of Windows 10, either with "Developer Mode" enabled or with administrator privileges.

Specifically, the following issues must be resolved for the code to work on Windows:

1. You must be using Windows Vista or higher.
2. os.symlink requires Python 3.2 or higher (unlike Unix-like operating systems like Linux and macOS, where any version of Python 3 works), and pathlib requires Python 3.4 or higher (which is true for all operating systems).
3. On Python versions lower than 3.8, the code must be run with administrator privileges. On Python versions 3.8 and up, you can either run with administrator privileges or enable "Developer Mode" on your system, which is available on Windows 10 versions that have received the Creators Update.
4. If the code above does not work for directories on your Windows system, you may have to supply a correct value for the target_is_directory argument.

• symlink_to — pathlib — Object-oriented filesystem paths — Python 3 documentation
• symlink — os — Miscellaneous operating system interfaces — Python 3 documentation
• Yosef Durr, Symlinks in Windows 10! Windows Developer Blog, December 2, 2016.

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