readlink(2) [osx man page]

READLINK(2)						      BSD System Calls Manual						       READLINK(2)

NAME

     readlink -- read value of a symbolic link

SYNOPSIS

     #include <unistd.h>

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

DESCRIPTION

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

RETURN VALUES

     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

     Readlink() will fail if:

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

     [EFAULT]		Buf extends outside the process's allocated address space.

     [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 are encountered in translating the pathname.  This is taken to be indicative of a looping symbolic
			link.

     [ENAMETOOLONG]	A component of a pathname exceeded {NAME_MAX} characters, or an entire path name (possibly expanded by a symbolic link)
			exceeded {PATH_MAX} characters.

     [ENOENT]		The named file does not exist.

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

LEGACY SYNOPSIS

     #include <unistd.h>

     int
     readlink(const char *path, char *buf, int bufsize);

     The function type and the type of bufsize have changed.

SEE ALSO

     lstat(2), stat(2), symlink(2), compat(5), symlink(7)

HISTORY

     The readlink() function call appeared in 4.2BSD.

4.2 Berkeley Distribution					   June 4, 1993 					 4.2 Berkeley Distribution

READLINK(2)						      BSD System Calls Manual						       READLINK(2)

NAME

     readlink -- read value of a symbolic link

LIBRARY

     Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS

     #include <unistd.h>

     ssize_t
     readlink(const char * restrict path, char * restrict 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 charac-
     ter to buf.

RETURN VALUES

     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.

EXAMPLES

     A typical use is illustrated in the following piece of code which reads the contents of a symbolic link named /symbolic/link and stores them
     as null-terminated string:

	   #include <limits.h>
	   #include <unistd.h>

	   char buf[PATH_MAX];
	   ssize_t len;

	   if ((len = readlink("/symbolic/link", buf, sizeof(buf)-1)) == -1)
		   error handling;
	   buf[len] = '';

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)

STANDARDS

     The readlink() function conforms to IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 (``POSIX.1'').

HISTORY

     The readlink() function appeared in 4.2BSD.  The type returned was changed from int to ssize_t in NetBSD 2.1.

BSD
								   May 11, 2004 							       BSD