SYMLINK

NAME

SYNOPSIS

#include <unistd.h>

int symlink(const char *target, const char *linkpath);

#include <fcntl.h>           /* Definition of AT_* constants */
#include <unistd.h>

int symlinkat(const char *target, int newdirfd, const char *linkpath);

symlink():

    _XOPEN_SOURCE >= 500 || _POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200112L
        || /* Glibc <= 2.19: */ _BSD_SOURCE

symlinkat():

    Since glibc 2.10:
        _POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200809L
    Before glibc 2.10:
        _ATFILE_SOURCE

DESCRIPTION

Symbolic links are interpreted at run time as if the contents of the link had been substituted into the path being followed to find a file or directory.

Symbolic links may contain .. path components, which (if used at the start of the link) refer to the parent directories of that in which the link resides.

A symbolic link (also known as a soft link) may point to an existing file or to a nonexistent one; the latter case is known as a dangling link.

The permissions of a symbolic link are irrelevant; the ownership is ignored when following the link, but is checked when removal or renaming of the link is requested and the link is in a directory with the sticky bit (S_ISVTX) set.

If linkpath exists, it will not be overwritten.  

symlinkat()

If the pathname given in linkpath is relative, then it is interpreted relative to the directory referred to by the file descriptor newdirfd (rather than relative to the current working directory of the calling process, as is done by symlink() for a relative pathname).

If linkpath is relative and newdirfd is the special value AT_FDCWD, then linkpath is interpreted relative to the current working directory of the calling process (like symlink()).

If linkpath is absolute, then newdirfd is ignored.  

RETURN VALUE

ERRORS

EACCES

Write access to the directory containing linkpath is denied, or one of the directories in the path prefix of linkpath did not allow search permission. (See also path_resolution(7).)

EDQUOT

The user's quota of resources on the filesystem has been exhausted. The resources could be inodes or disk blocks, depending on the filesystem implementation.

EEXIST

linkpath already exists.

EFAULT

target or linkpath points outside your accessible address space.

EIO

An I/O error occurred.

ELOOP

Too many symbolic links were encountered in resolving linkpath.

ENAMETOOLONG

target or linkpath was too long.

ENOENT

A directory component in linkpath does not exist or is a dangling symbolic link, or target or linkpath is an empty string.

ENOMEM

Insufficient kernel memory was available.

ENOSPC

The device containing the file has no room for the new directory entry.

ENOTDIR

A component used as a directory in linkpath is not, in fact, a directory.

EPERM

The filesystem containing linkpath does not support the creation of symbolic links.

EROFS

linkpath is on a read-only filesystem.

The following additional errors can occur for symlinkat():

EBADF

newdirfd is not a valid file descriptor.

ENOENT

linkpath is a relative pathname and newdirfd refers to a directory that has been deleted.

ENOTDIR

linkpath is relative and newdirfd is a file descriptor referring to a file other than a directory.

VERSIONS

CONFORMING TO

symlinkat(): POSIX.1-2008.  

NOTES

Deleting the name referred to by a symbolic link will actually delete the file (unless it also has other hard links). If this behavior is not desired, use link(2).  

Glibc notes

SEE ALSO

COLOPHON

Index

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

symlinkat()

RETURN VALUE

ERRORS

VERSIONS

CONFORMING TO

NOTES

Glibc notes

SEE ALSO

COLOPHON