NAME

readlink() − read the contents of a symbolic link

SYNOPSIS

#include <unistd.h>

int readlink(
     const char *path,
     char *buf,
     size_t bufsiz
);

DESCRIPTION

The readlink() function places the contents of the symbolic link referred to by path in the buffer buf which has size bufsiz. If the number of bytes in the symbolic link is less than bufsiz, the contents of the remainder of buf are unspecified. 

RETURN VALUE

Upon successful completion, readlink() returns the count of bytes placed in the buffer.  Otherwise, it returns a value of −1, leaves the buffer  unchanged, and sets errno to indicate the error. 

ERRORS

The readlink() function will fail if:

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

[EINVAL] The path argument names a file that is not a symbolic link. 

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

[ENOENT] A component of path does not name an existing file or path is an empty string. 

[ELOOP] Too  many symbolic links were encountered in resolving path. 

[ENAMETOOLONG]
The length of path exceeds PATH_MAX, or a pathname component is longer than NAME_MAX. 

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

The readlink() function may fail if:

[EACCES] Read permission is denied for the directory. 

[ENAMETOOLONG]
Pathname resolution of a  symbolic link produced an intermediate result whose length exceeds PATH_MAX. 

APPLICATION USAGE

Portable applications should not assume that the returned contents of the symbolic link are null- terminated. 

SEE ALSO

stat(), symlink(), <unistd.h>. 

CHANGE HISTORY

First released in Issue 4, Version 2. 

HP−UX EXTENSIONS

SYNOPSIS

#include <symlink.h>

DESCRIPTION

If the length of the path name string is less than bufsiz, the string will be null-terminated when returned. If the length of the path name string is exactly bufsiz, the string will not be null-terminated when returned.

ERRORS

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

[EFAULT] buf or path points outside the process’s allocated address space.  Reliable detection of this error is implementation-dependent. 

[ENAMETOOLONG]
A component of path exceeds NAME_MAX bytes while _POSIX_NO_TRUNC is in effect, or path exceeds PATH_MAX bytes. 

AUTHOR

readlink() was developed by the University of California, Berkeley. 

SEE ALSO

stat(2), symlink(2), symlink(4). 

STANDARDS CONFORMANCE

readlink(): AES, SVID3

Hewlett-Packard Company  —  HP-UX Release 10.20:  July 1996