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NAME
readlink, readlinkat - read value of a symbolic link
LIBRARY
Standard C library (libc, -lc)
SYNOPSIS
#include <unistd.h>
ssize_t readlink(size_t bufsiz;
const char *restrict path,
char buf[restrict bufsiz], size_t bufsiz);
#include <fcntl.h> /* Definition of AT_* constants */
#include <unistd.h>
ssize_t readlinkat(size_t bufsiz;
int dirfd, const char *restrict path,
char buf[restrict bufsiz], size_t bufsiz);
Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):
readlink():
_XOPEN_SOURCE >= 500 || _POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200112L
|| /* glibc <= 2.19: */ _BSD_SOURCE
readlinkat():
Since glibc 2.10:
_POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200809L
Before glibc 2.10:
_ATFILE_SOURCE
DESCRIPTION
readlink() places the contents of the symbolic link path in the buffer buf, which has size bufsiz.
readlink() does not append a terminating null byte to buf. It will (silently) truncate the contents (to
a length of bufsiz characters), in case the buffer is too small to hold all of the contents.
readlinkat()
The readlinkat() system call operates in exactly the same way as readlink(), except for the differences
described here.
If path is relative, then it is interpreted relative to the directory referred to by the file descriptor
dirfd (rather than relative to the current working directory of the calling process, as is done by
readlink() for a relative pathname).
If path is relative and dirfd is the special value AT_FDCWD, then path is interpreted relative to the
current working directory of the calling process (like readlink()).
If path is absolute, then dirfd is ignored.
Since Linux 2.6.39, path can be an empty string, in which case the call operates on the symbolic link
referred to by dirfd (which should have been obtained using open(2) with the O_PATH and O_NOFOLLOW
flags).
See openat(2) for an explanation of the need for readlinkat().
RETURN VALUE
On success, these calls return the number of bytes placed in buf. (If the returned value equals bufsiz,
then truncation may have occurred.) On error, -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the error.
ERRORS
EACCES Search permission is denied for a component of the path prefix. (See also path_resolution(7).)
EBADF (readlinkat()) path is relative but dirfd is neither AT_FDCWD nor a valid file descriptor.
EFAULT buf extends outside the process's allocated address space.
EINVAL bufsiz is not positive.
EINVAL The named file (i.e., the final filename component of path) is not a symbolic link.
EIO An I/O error occurred while reading from the filesystem.
ELOOP Too many symbolic links were encountered in translating the pathname.
ENAMETOOLONG
A pathname, or a component of a pathname, was too long.
ENOENT The named file does not exist.
ENOMEM Insufficient kernel memory was available.
ENOTDIR
A component of the path prefix is not a directory.
ENOTDIR
(readlinkat()) path is relative and dirfd is a file descriptor referring to a file other than a
directory.
STANDARDS
POSIX.1-2008.
HISTORY
readlink()
4.4BSD (first appeared in 4.2BSD), POSIX.1-2001, POSIX.1-2008.
readlinkat()
POSIX.1-2008. Linux 2.6.16, glibc 2.4.
Up to and including glibc 2.4, the return type of readlink() was declared as int. Nowadays, the return
type is declared as ssize_t, as (newly) required in POSIX.1-2001.
glibc
On older kernels where readlinkat() is unavailable, the glibc wrapper function falls back to the use of
readlink(). When path is relative, glibc constructs a pathname based on the symbolic link in
/proc/self/fd that corresponds to the dirfd argument.
NOTES
Using a statically sized buffer might not provide enough room for the symbolic link contents. The
required size for the buffer can be obtained from the stat.st_size value returned by a call to lstat(2)
on the link. However, the number of bytes written by readlink() and readlinkat() should be checked to
make sure that the size of the symbolic link did not increase between the calls. Dynamically allocating
the buffer for readlink() and readlinkat() also addresses a common portability problem when using
PATH_MAX for the buffer size, as this constant is not guaranteed to be defined per POSIX if the system
does not have such limit.
EXAMPLES
The following program allocates the buffer needed by readlink() dynamically from the information provided
by lstat(2), falling back to a buffer of size PATH_MAX in cases where lstat(2) reports a size of zero.
#include <limits.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <unistd.h>
int
main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
char *buf;
ssize_t nbytes, bufsiz;
struct stat sb;
if (argc != 2) {
fprintf(stderr, "Usage: %s <path>\n", argv[0]);
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
if (lstat(argv[1], &sb) == -1) {
perror("lstat");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
/* Add one to the link size, so that we can determine whether
the buffer returned by readlink() was truncated. */
bufsiz = sb.st_size + 1;
/* Some magic symlinks under (for example) /proc and /sys
report 'st_size' as zero. In that case, take PATH_MAX as
a "good enough" estimate. */
if (sb.st_size == 0)
bufsiz = PATH_MAX;
buf = malloc(bufsiz);
if (buf == NULL) {
perror("malloc");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
nbytes = readlink(argv[1], buf, bufsiz);
if (nbytes == -1) {
perror("readlink");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
/* Print only 'nbytes' of 'buf', as it doesn't contain a terminating
null byte ('\0'). */
printf("'%s' points to '%.*s'\n", argv[1], (int) nbytes, buf);
/* If the return value was equal to the buffer size, then
the link target was larger than expected (perhaps because the
target was changed between the call to lstat() and the call to
readlink()). Warn the user that the returned target may have
been truncated. */
if (nbytes == bufsiz)
printf("(Returned buffer may have been truncated)\n");
free(buf);
exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
}
SEE ALSO
readlink(1), lstat(2), stat(2), symlink(2), realpath(3), path_resolution(7), symlink(7)
Linux man-pages 6.15 2025-06-28 readlink(2)