# Tool to find and help quickly fix symlinks? **URL:** \ **Category:** UNIX for Beginners Q & A\ **Created:** [June 12, 2021, 9:28pm UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/tool-to-find-and-help-quickly-fix-symlinks/383035 "2021-06-12T21:28:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![centosadmin](https://community.unix.com/letter_avatar/centosadmin/32/6_22734026db12803ebb3e059622ac3534.png) [@centosadmin](https://community.unix.com/u/centosadmin)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2021, 9:28pm UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/tool-to-find-and-help-quickly-fix-symlinks/383035/1 "2021-06-12T21:28:45Z")
Before i start creating many symbolic links on Linux i want to ask how to later fix the broken links, i mean some tool that find the links and in some quick way allow bulk replace path for new ones.. ---
**Author:** ![MadeInGermany](https://community.unix.com/letter_avatar/madeingermany/32/6_22734026db12803ebb3e059622ac3534.png) [@MadeInGermany](https://community.unix.com/u/MadeInGermany)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 7:13am UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/tool-to-find-and-help-quickly-fix-symlinks/383035/2 "2021-06-13T07:13:57Z")
You can find broken symlinks with ```nohighlight find /path/to/search -type l -exec test \! -e {} \; -print ``` I think in GNU find (Linux) you can use the faster ```nohighlight find /path/to/search -xtype l ``` But haven't used it in practice yet. ---
**Author:** ![vbe](https://community.unix.com/user_avatar/community.unix.com/vbe/32/266_2.png) [@vbe](https://community.unix.com/u/vbe)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 7:33am UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/tool-to-find-and-help-quickly-fix-symlinks/383035/3 "2021-06-13T07:33:00Z")
Either go the way MadeInGemany suggest, either as I have no box using it under my hand to check, see what Gnu findutils offer in the database it creates for speeding the response of Gnu find mostly, if you can extract the links, could compare with previous reports etc..., you have a good start... As to replace for new ones I dont see how you can automate unless this time using the findUtils DB by looking what was the target and where can I find a similar but unless you find the right size and timestamp how can you be sure its correct? ---
**Author:** ![centosadmin](https://community.unix.com/letter_avatar/centosadmin/32/6_22734026db12803ebb3e059622ac3534.png) [@centosadmin](https://community.unix.com/u/centosadmin)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2021, 12:26pm UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/tool-to-find-and-help-quickly-fix-symlinks/383035/4 "2021-06-14T12:26:41Z")
Thanks for the input, but i wanted a tool, script or even gui app for this. I am not good in scripts and was assuming such a basic thing like maintaining/managing symlinks should be already covered by some tool if not built in in the system somewhere so the system finds the new location automatically like it was in the MS Windows. I am XFCE user atm. ---
**Author:** ![MadeInGermany](https://community.unix.com/letter_avatar/madeingermany/32/6_22734026db12803ebb3e059622ac3534.png) [@MadeInGermany](https://community.unix.com/u/MadeInGermany)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 4:53pm UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/tool-to-find-and-help-quickly-fix-symlinks/383035/5 "2021-06-15T16:53:47Z")
I once made a relocation script. It recursively goes through an installation directory, discovers text files, and makes substitutions oldstring-\>newstring in them. Further it changes symlink targets in the same oldstring-\>newstring fashion. I left it at my customer's site though, thinking there might be other tools for this... ---
**Author:** ![system](https://community.unix.com/uploads/default/original/2X/c/c7e9e16a595259edafe88615719d5c5dcda035c2.png) [@system](https://community.unix.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2021, 4:54pm UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/tool-to-find-and-help-quickly-fix-symlinks/383035/6 "2021-08-14T16:54:17Z")
Closed on August 14, 2021, 4:54pm UTC This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed. ---
**Author:** ![hicksd8](https://community.unix.com/letter_avatar/hicksd8/32/6_22734026db12803ebb3e059622ac3534.png) [@hicksd8](https://community.unix.com/u/hicksd8)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 7:43pm UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/tool-to-find-and-help-quickly-fix-symlinks/383035/7 "2025-09-10T19:43:33Z")
Opened on September 10, 2025, 7:43pm UTC ---
**Author:** ![hicksd8](https://community.unix.com/letter_avatar/hicksd8/32/6_22734026db12803ebb3e059622ac3534.png) [@hicksd8](https://community.unix.com/u/hicksd8)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 7:44pm UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/tool-to-find-and-help-quickly-fix-symlinks/383035/8 "2025-09-10T19:44:12Z")
Reopened at member’s request. ---
**Author:** ![Neo](https://community.unix.com/user_avatar/community.unix.com/neo/32/22838_2.png) [@Neo](https://community.unix.com/u/Neo)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2025, 2:23pm UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/tool-to-find-and-help-quickly-fix-symlinks/383035/9 "2025-09-19T14:23:00Z")
Closed on September 19, 2025, 2:23pm UTC Start a new topic and reference this one. No need to reopen.