Section 4.17. symlink and readlink Functions

4.17. symlink and readlink Functions

A symbolic link is created with the symlink function.

[View full width]

#include <unistd.h> int symlink(const char *actualpath, const char  *sympath);

Returns: 0 if OK, 1 on error

A new directory entry, sympath, is created that points to actualpath. It is not required that actualpath exist when the symbolic link is created. (We saw this in the example at the end of the previous section.) Also, actualpath and sympath need not reside in the same file system.

Because the open function follows a symbolic link, we need a way to open the link itself and read the name in the link. The readlink function does this.

[View full width]

#include <unistd.h> ssize_t readlink(const char* restrict pathname,  char *restrict buf,                  size_t bufsize); 

Returns: number of bytes read if OK, 1 on error

This function combines the actions of open, read, and close. If the function is successful, it returns the number of bytes placed into buf. The contents of the symbolic link that are returned in buf are not null terminated.