My basic understanding of a symlink is as a special file, a file that contains a string path to another file. The kernel's VFS abstracts a lot of that away but is there any reason why symlinks seem to be impossible to edit?

In other words: Can I edit a symlink? If not, why not?



I do understand that there are various ways of replacing symlinks (two alternatives are currently in the answers section) but it would be interesting to get an explanation on why replacement seems to be the only way to deal with symlinks. Why can't you just change where they point?


Question: Why do some people wrap their Tefilin around their arms 8 times?
Answer: In addition to the Minhagim mentioned, it also is closely related to the direction one wraps. Wrapping inward tends to make it obvious how many loops there are, whereas wrapping outward leaves it unclear, hence the need for different Minhagim (6 and 2 halves, 7 and a half, etc.) to make an extra loop to ensure 7 complete loops.