24.8 Deleting a Hard Link

If multiple links exist for a file, deleting a hard link to a file deletes only the link name, not the file’s contents. NSS keeps count of how many hard links a file has and does not delete the file contents until all hard link names for the file and its primary link have been deleted (the link count goes to zero).

There are no special commands required to delete a hard link. In a file manager, locate the link name to be deleted, then delete it with the delete commands and procedures native to the client you use to access the file.