Computer shortcuts are small files containing only the location of another file.

Microsoft Windows adds .lnk as the extension, and displays them with a curled arrow by default. This extension remains hidden in Windows Explorer even when Hide extensions for known file types is unchecked. .lnk files are commonly referred to as "shortcuts" or "link files" or "LNK files".

Macintosh System 7 through Mac OS 8.1, shortcuts distinguish themselves visually to the user by the fact that their file names were in italics. In Mac OS 8.5, another distinguishing mark was added, badging with an "alias arrow" - a black arrow on a small white square - similar to that used for shortcuts in Microsoft Windows.

In Mac OS X, the filenames of aliases are not italicized, but the arrow badge remains.

Windows shortcuts

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To create a shortcut for a program in Windows, you can right click on the file and go to Create Shortcut. After creating the shortcut, there are ways to modify how the program will run. Right click the shortcut you just created and go to Properties. In the Target Field, you can add command line switches to the end to modify how the program will run. Suppose you are playing a game, it might be possible to make the game run in a windowed mode if it runs in fullscreen by adding '-window' to the end of the target field, if the programmers of the game included this.

Shortcuts contain the following attributes: arguments (parameters), a description (comment), hotkey combination, icon path and index, the destination of the shortcut, the directory to launch the destination from, and a hint as to how to display the destination when executing. In addition, shortcuts contain information to assist Windows locate the target of the shortcut if the target is moved. Developers can manipulate shortcuts using the IShellLink API.

See also

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• Alias (Mac OS)
• Symbolic link (Unix)