NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

     readlink - read value of a symbolic link

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

     #include <unistd.h>

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

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

     readlink() places the contents of the symbolic link path  in
the buffer
     buf,  which has size bufsiz.  readlink does not append a NUL
character to
     buf.

RETURN VALUES    [Toc]    [Back]

     The call returns the  count  of  characters  placed  in  the
buffer if it succeeds,
 or a -1 if an error occurs, placing the error code in
the global
     variable errno.

ERRORS    [Toc]    [Back]

     readlink() will fail if:

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

     [ENAMETOOLONG]
                   A  component of a pathname exceeded {NAME_MAX}
characters,
                   or an entire  path  name  exceeded  {PATH_MAX}
characters.

     [ENOENT]      The named file does not exist.

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

     [ELOOP]       Too many symbolic links  were  encountered  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's  allocated
address space.

SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]

     lstat(2), stat(2), symlink(2), symlink(7)

HISTORY    [Toc]    [Back]

     The readlink() function call appeared in 4.2BSD.

OpenBSD      3.6                           June      4,      1993