NAME

       symlink, symlinkat - make a new name for a file

SYNOPSIS

       #include <unistd.h>

       int symlink(const char *target, const char *linkpath);

       #include <fcntl.h>           /* Definition of AT_* constants */
       #include <unistd.h>

       int symlinkat(const char *target, int newdirfd, const char *linkpath);

   Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):

       symlink():
           _XOPEN_SOURCE >= 500 || _POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200112L
               || /* Glibc versions <= 2.19: */ _BSD_SOURCE

       symlinkat():
           Since glibc 2.10:
               _POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200809L
           Before glibc 2.10:
               _ATFILE_SOURCE

DESCRIPTION

       symlink() creates a symbolic link named linkpath which contains the string target.

       Symbolic  links  are  interpreted  at  run  time  as  if the contents of the link had been
       substituted into the path being followed to find a file or directory.

       Symbolic links may contain ..  path components, which (if used at the start of  the  link)
       refer to the parent directories of that in which the link resides.

       A  symbolic  link  (also  known  as  a  soft  link)  may point to an existing file or to a
       nonexistent one; the latter case is known as a dangling link.

       The permissions of a symbolic link are irrelevant; the ownership is ignored when following
       the link, but is checked when removal or renaming of the link is requested and the link is
       in a directory with the sticky bit (S_ISVTX) set.

       If linkpath exists, it will not be overwritten.

   symlinkat()
       The symlinkat() system call operates in exactly the same way as symlink(), except for  the
       differences described here.

       If  the  pathname  given  in  linkpath is relative, then it is interpreted relative to the
       directory referred to by the file descriptor newdirfd (rather than relative to the current
       working  directory  of  the  calling  process,  as  is  done  by  symlink() for a relative
       pathname).

       If linkpath is relative and newdirfd is the  special  value  AT_FDCWD,  then  linkpath  is
       interpreted  relative  to  the  current  working  directory  of  the calling process (like
       symlink()).

       If linkpath is absolute, then newdirfd is ignored.

RETURN VALUE

       On success, zero is returned.  On error, -1 is returned, and errno is set appropriately.

ERRORS

       EACCES Write access to the  directory  containing  linkpath  is  denied,  or  one  of  the
              directories  in  the path prefix of linkpath did not allow search permission.  (See
              also path_resolution(7).)

       EDQUOT The user's quota of resources on the filesystem has been exhausted.  The  resources
              could be inodes or disk blocks, depending on the filesystem implementation.

       EEXIST linkpath already exists.

       EFAULT target or linkpath points outside your accessible address space.

       EIO    An I/O error occurred.

       ELOOP  Too many symbolic links were encountered in resolving linkpath.

       ENAMETOOLONG
              target or linkpath was too long.

       ENOENT A directory component in linkpath does not exist or is a dangling symbolic link, or
              target or linkpath is an empty string.

       ENOMEM Insufficient kernel memory was available.

       ENOSPC The device containing the file has no room for the new directory entry.

       ENOTDIR
              A component used as a directory in linkpath is not, in fact, a directory.

       EPERM  The filesystem containing linkpath does not support the creation of symbolic links.

       EROFS  linkpath is on a read-only filesystem.

       The following additional errors can occur for symlinkat():

       EBADF  newdirfd is not a valid file descriptor.

       ENOENT linkpath is a relative pathname and newdirfd refers to a directory  that  has  been
              deleted.

       ENOTDIR
              linkpath  is  relative  and newdirfd is a file descriptor referring to a file other
              than a directory.

VERSIONS

       symlinkat() was added to Linux in kernel 2.6.16; library support was  added  to  glibc  in
       version 2.4.

CONFORMING TO

       symlink(): SVr4, 4.3BSD, POSIX.1-2001, POSIX.1-2008.

       symlinkat(): POSIX.1-2008.

NOTES

       No checking of target is done.

       Deleting  the name referred to by a symbolic link will actually delete the file (unless it
       also has other hard links).  If this behavior is not desired, use link(2).

   Glibc notes
       On older kernels where symlinkat() is unavailable, the glibc wrapper function  falls  back
       to  the  use  of  symlink().   When  linkpath  is  a relative pathname, glibc constructs a
       pathname based on the symbolic link in /proc/self/fd  that  corresponds  to  the  newdirfd
       argument.

SEE ALSO

       ln(1), namei(1), lchown(2), link(2), lstat(2), open(2), readlink(2), rename(2), unlink(2),
       path_resolution(7), symlink(7)

COLOPHON

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       project,  information  about  reporting  bugs, and the latest version of this page, can be
       found at https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.