How do I delete a hard link?
You can delete it with rm
as usual: rm NameOfFile
. Note that with hard links there is no distinction between "the original file" and "the link to the file": you just have two names for the same file, and deleting just one of the names will not delete the other.
I have this script to remove redundant hard links. But take care - it is quite dangerous.
#!/bin/bash
clear
echo Reduce redundant hardlinks in the current folder
echo ------------------------------------------------
echo
echo " $(basename $0) [-R]"
echo " -R means recursive"
echo
read -p "You can break by pressing Ctrl+C"
echo
ask=1
if [ a$1 == "a-R" ]; then recursive=" -R "; fi
for i in $(ls -i $recursive | awk '{print $1}' | uniq --repeated | sort);
do
echo "Inode with multiple hardlinked files: $i"
first=1
for foundfile in $(find . -xdev -inum $i);
do
if [ $first == 1 ]; then
echo " preserving the first file: $foundfile"
first=0
else
echo " deleting the redundant file: $foundfile"
#rm $foundfile
fi
done
if [ $ask == 1 ]; then
read -p "Delete all the rest of redundant hardlinks without asking? y/N "
if [ a${REPLY,,} == "ay" ]; then ask=0; fi
fi
# read -p "pause for sure"
echo
done
echo "All redundant hardlins are removed."
echo