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🔗 12.6 readlink: Print value of a symlink or canonical file name

🚀 Quick Reference

Use Case	Command	Description
🔍 Read symlink target	readlink /path/to/symlink	Outputs the value of the symbolic link (default mode)
🧭 Resolve to canonical absolute path	readlink -f /path/to/file	Outputs the absolute path with no ., .., or symlinks
✅ Resolve existing path	readlink -e /path/to/file	Canonicalize, require all components to exist
🔮 Resolve even missing components	readlink -m /path/to/missing	Canonicalize, treat missing components as directories
🔇 Suppress errors	readlink -q /path	Quiet mode (on by default)
📜 Output NUL-separated	readlink -z /path	Use NUL byte instead of newline (safe for embedded newlines)

📝 Modes of Operation

readlink may work in one of two supported modes:

🔗 Readlink Mode

readlink outputs the value of the given symbolic links. If invoked with an argument other than the name of a symbolic link, it produces no output and exits with a nonzero exit code.

🧭 Canonicalize Mode

readlink outputs the absolute name of the given files which contain no ., .. components nor any repeated separators (/) or symbolic links. Note the realpath command is the preferred command to use for canonicalization. See realpath invocation.

Usage: readlink [OPTION]... FILE...

By default, readlink operates in readlink mode.

⚙️ Options

The program accepts the following options. Also see Common options.

• -f, --canonicalize — 🧭 Activate canonicalize mode. If any component of the file name except the last one is missing or unavailable, readlink produces no output and exits with a nonzero exit code. A trailing slash is ignored.
• -e, --canonicalize-existing — ✅ Activate canonicalize mode. If any component is missing or unavailable, readlink produces no output and exits with a nonzero exit code. A trailing slash requires that the name resolve to a directory.
• -m, --canonicalize-missing — 🔮 Activate canonicalize mode. If any component is missing or unavailable, readlink treats it as a directory.
• -n, --no-newline — 🚫 Do not print the output delimiter, when a single FILE is specified. Print a warning if specified along with multiple FILEs.
• -s, -q, --silent, --quiet — 🔇 Suppress most error messages. On by default.
• -v, --verbose — 📢 Report error messages.
• -z, --zero — 🧵 Output a zero byte (ASCII NUL) at the end of each line, rather than a newline. This option enables other programs to parse the output even when that output would contain data with embedded newlines.

📜 History

The readlink utility first appeared in OpenBSD 2.1.

The realpath command without options, operates like readlink in canonicalize mode.

🚪 Exit Codes

An exit status of 0 indicates success, and a nonzero value indicates failure.

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🔗 12.6 readlink: Print value of a symlink or canonical file name 🚀 Quick Reference 📝 Modes of Operation ⚙️ Options 📜 History 🚪 Exit Codes