readlink

Readlink is a command-line utility in Unix-like operating systems used to display the target of a symbolic link or to resolve a path to its canonical form. It is commonly provided by the GNU coreutils package on Linux and is also available on BSD-derived systems, with similar behavior in some environments.

By default, readlink prints the value stored in a symbolic link, i.e., the immediate target that the link points to. If the given path is not a symbolic link, the command may fail with an error on many implementations. The exact output depends on the file system and the particular implementation.

Many implementations offer options to resolve a full, absolute path by following all links and normalizing components like . and .. In GNU coreutils, a typical option for this behavior is -f, which canonicalizes the path by dereferencing symlinks along the way. Other variants or systems may provide different or fewer options, and some BSD-derived readlink utilities may not support -f.

Usage and portability: readlink is widely available but its options and exact semantics can vary between GNU and BSD versions. On systems that lack a suitable option for full path resolution, tools like realpath or a combination of readlink and additional shell processing may be used instead.

Exit status: The command typically returns a zero exit status on success and a non-zero status if an error occurs (for example, if the path does not exist or is not a symbolic link).

Examples: readlink /path/to/link; readlink -f /path/to/link (when supported).