READLINK(2)                          SysV                          READLINK(2)



NAME
     readlink - read value of a symbolic link

SYNOPSIS
     cc = readlink(path, buf, bufsiz)
     int cc;
     const char *path;
     char *buf;
     int bufsiz;

DESCRIPTION
     The readlink function places the contents of the symbolic link named by
     the path parameter in buffer, which has size buf_size.  If the actual
     length of the symbolic link is less than buf_size, the string copied into
     the buffer will be null-terminated.  If the actual length of the symbolic
     link is greater than buf_size, an error will be returned.  The length of
     a symbolic link will not exceed PATH_MAX.

     The return link text is null-terminated if there is space in the output
     buffer (that is, strlen(link-text) is less than the buffer-size).

     For a readlink function to complete successfully, the calling process
     must have search access to the directory containing the link.

DIAGNOSTICS
     Upon successful completion, the readlink function returns a count of the
     number of characters placed in the buffer (not including any terminating
     null). If the readlink function fails, the buffer is not modified, a
     value of -1 is returned, and errno is set to indicate the error.

ERRORS
     readlink will fail and the mode of the file named by path will be
     unchanged if:

     [ENOTDIR]        A component of the path prefix is not a directory.

     [EINVAL]         The pathname contains a character with the high-order
                      bit set.

     [ENAMETOOLONG]   A component of a pathname exceeded 255 characters, or an
                      entire path name exceeded 1023 characters.

     [ENOENT]         The named file does not exist or the  path parameter
                      points to an empty string.

     [EACCES]         Search permission is denied for a component of the path
                      prefix.

     [ELOOP]          The call encountered too many symbolic links in
                      translating the pathname.

     [EINVAL]         The named file is not a symbolic link.

     [EIO]            An I/O error occurred while reading from the file
                      system.

     [EFAULT]         buf extends outside the process' allocated address
                      space.

     [ERANGE]         The pathname in the symbolic link is longer than
                      buf_size.

SEE ALSO
     stat(2).   "Errors."