READLINK(1) | General Commands Manual | READLINK(1)

# NAME

`readlink` — display target of symbolic link on standard output

# SYNOPSIS

`readlink` | [`-fn`] file

# DESCRIPTION

The `readlink` utility when invoked with the pathname of a symbolic link as its argument dereferences the symbolic link and prints the name of target on standard output. If the `-f` option is not specified and `readlink` is invoked with an argument other than the pathname of a symbolic link, it exits with a nonzero exit code without printing anything.

The options are as follows:

`-f`
  Canonicalize by following every symlink in every component of the given path recursively. `readlink` will resolve both absolute and relative paths and return the absolute pathname corresponding to file. The argument does not need to be a symbolic link.
`-n`
  Do not print a trailing newline character.

# EXIT STATUS

The `readlink` utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.

# SEE ALSO

realpath(1), readlink(2), realpath(3)

# HISTORY

The `readlink` utility first appeared in OpenBSD 2.1.

October 13, 2021 | Debian