readlink(2) - NetBSD Manual Pages

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


NAME

     readlink - read value of a symbolic link


LIBRARY

     Standard C Library (libc, -lc)


SYNOPSIS

     #include <unistd.h>

     int
     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 NUL character
     to buf.


RETURN VALUES

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


ERRORS

     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

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


HISTORY

     The readlink() function call appeared in 4.2BSD.

NetBSD 1.6                       June 4, 1993                                1