READLINK(2)		   Linux Programmer's Manual		   READLINK(2)



NAME
       readlink - read value of a symbolic link

SYNOPSIS
       #include <unistd.h>

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

DESCRIPTION
       readlink()  places the contents of the symbolic link path in the buffer
       buf, which has size bufsiz.  readlink() does not append a null byte  to
       buf.  It will truncate the contents (to a length of bufsiz characters),
       in case the buffer is too small to hold all of the contents.

RETURN VALUE
       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 errno.

ERRORS
       EACCES Search permission is denied for a component of the path  prefix.
	      (See also path_resolution(2).)

       EFAULT buf extends outside the process's allocated address space.

       EINVAL bufsiz is not positive.

       EINVAL The named file is not a symbolic link.

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

       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.

CONFORMING TO
       4.4BSD (the readlink() function call appeared in 4.2BSD), POSIX.1-2001.

HISTORY
       In  versions of glibc 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.

SEE ALSO
       lstat(2), path_resolution(2), readlinkat(2), stat(2), symlink(2)



Linux 2.0.30			  1997-08-21			   READLINK(2)