12.6 readlink: Print value of a symlink or canonical file name
readlink may work in one of two supported modes:
- ‘Readlink mode’
-
readlink outputs the value of the given symbolic link.
If readlink is invoked with an argument other than the name
of a symbolic link, it produces no output and exits with a nonzero exit code.
- ‘Canonicalize mode’
-
readlink outputs the absolute name of the given file which contains
no ., .. components nor any repeated separators
(/) or symbolic links.
readlink [option] file
By default, readlink operates in readlink mode.
The program accepts the following options. Also see Common options.
- ‘-f’
- ‘--canonicalize’
- Activate canonicalize mode.
If any component of the file name except the last one is missing or unavailable,
readlink produces no output and exits with a nonzero exit
code. A trailing slash is ignored.
- ‘-e’
- ‘--canonicalize-existing’
- Activate canonicalize mode.
If any component is missing or unavailable, readlink produces
no output and exits with a nonzero exit code. A trailing slash
requires that the name resolve to a directory.
- ‘-m’
- ‘--canonicalize-missing’
- Activate canonicalize mode.
If any component is missing or unavailable, readlink treats it
as a directory.
- ‘-n’
- ‘--no-newline’
- Do not output the trailing newline.
- ‘-s’
- ‘-q’
- ‘--silent’
- ‘--quiet’
- Suppress most error messages.
- ‘-v’
- ‘--verbose’
- Report error messages.
The readlink utility first appeared in OpenBSD 2.1.
There is a realpath command on some systems
which operates like readlink in canonicalize mode.
An exit status of zero indicates success,
and a nonzero value indicates failure.