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📖 NAME

realpath — Print the resolved file name.

🚀 Quick Reference

Use Case	Command	Description
🔗 Resolve symbolic links to absolute path	realpath FILE	Expands all symlinks, resolves ., .., and extra /
✅ Ensure all components exist	realpath -e FILE	Fail if any component is missing or unavailable
❓ Treat missing components as directories	realpath -m FILE	Allow missing path components (treat as directory)
📂 Get relative path from a directory	realpath --relative-to=DIR FILE	Print resolved path relative to DIR
🔀 Conditional relative/absolute	realpath --relative-base=DIR FILE	Relative if under DIR, else absolute
🔇 Suppress errors	realpath -q FILE	Suppress diagnostic messages for missing files
🔗 No symlink resolution	realpath -s FILE	Only resolve ., .., and extra /

📝 DESCRIPTION

realpath expands all symbolic links and resolves references to /./, /../ and extra / characters. By default, all but the last component of the specified files must exist.

realpath [OPTION]... FILE...

The file name canonicalization functionality overlaps with that of the readlink command. This is the preferred command for canonicalization as it's a more suitable and standard name. In addition this command supports relative file name processing functionality.

⚙️ OPTIONS

• -e / --canonicalize-existing — ✅ Ensure that all components of the specified file names exist. If any component is missing or unavailable, realpath will output a diagnostic unless the -q option is specified, and exit with a nonzero exit code. A trailing slash requires that the name resolve to a directory.
• -m / --canonicalize-missing — ❓ If any component of a specified file name is missing or unavailable, treat it as a directory.
• -L / --logical — 🔗 Symbolic links are resolved in the specified file names, but they are resolved after any subsequent .. components are processed.
• -P / --physical — 🧱 Symbolic links are resolved in the specified file names, and they are resolved before any subsequent .. components are processed. This is the default mode of operation.
• -q / --quiet — 🔇 Suppress diagnostic messages for specified file names.
• --relative-to=DIR — 📂 Print the resolved file names relative to the specified directory. Note this option honors the -m and -e options pertaining to file existence.
• --relative-base=DIR — 🏠 Print the resolved file names as relative if the files are descendants of DIR. Otherwise, print the resolved file names as absolute. Note this option honors the -m and -e options pertaining to file existence. For details about combining --relative-to and --relative-base, see Realpath usage examples.
• -s / --strip / --no-symlinks — 🚫 Do not resolve symbolic links. Only resolve references to /./, /../ and remove extra / characters. When combined with the -m option, realpath operates only on the file name, and does not touch any actual file.
• -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.

🚪 Exit Codes

• ✅ 0 — All file names were printed without issue.
• ❌ 1 — Otherwise.

📚 EXAMPLES

📖 Realpath usage examples

By default, realpath prints the absolute file name of given files (symlinks are resolved, words is resolved to american-english):

cd /home/user
realpath /usr/bin/sort /tmp/foo /usr/share/dict/words 1.txt
=> /usr/bin/sort
=> /tmp/foo
=> /usr/share/dict/american-english
=> /home/user/1.txt

With --relative-to, file names are printed relative to the given directory:

realpath --relative-to=/usr/bin \
         /usr/bin/sort /tmp/foo /usr/share/dict/words 1.txt
=> sort
=> ../../tmp/foo
=> ../share/dict/american-english
=> ../../home/user/1.txt

With --relative-base, relative file names are printed if the resolved file name is below the given base directory. For files outside the base directory absolute file names are printed:

realpath --relative-base=/usr \
         /usr/bin/sort /tmp/foo /usr/share/dict/words 1.txt
=> bin/sort
=> /tmp/foo
=> share/dict/american-english
=> /home/user/1.txt

When both --relative-to=DIR1 and --relative-base=DIR2 are used, file names are printed relative to DIR1 if they are located below DIR2. If the files are not below DIR2, they are printed as absolute file names:

realpath --relative-to=/usr/bin --relative-base=/usr \
         /usr/bin/sort /tmp/foo /usr/share/dict/words 1.txt
=> sort
=> /tmp/foo
=> ../share/dict/american-english
=> /home/user/1.txt

When both --relative-to=DIR1 and --relative-base=DIR2 are used, DIR1 must be a subdirectory of DIR2. Otherwise, realpath prints absolute file names.

📖 NAME 🚀 Quick Reference 📝 DESCRIPTION ⚙️ OPTIONS 🚪 Exit Codes 📚 EXAMPLES