READLINK(2)		  FreeBSD System Calls Manual		   READLINK(2)

NAME
     readlink - read value of a symbolic link

LIBRARY
     Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS
     #include <unistd.h>

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

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

RETURN VALUES
     The call returns the count of characters placed in the buffer if it suc-
     ceeds, or a -1 if an error occurs, placing the error code in the global
     variable errno.

ERRORS
     Readlink() will fail if:

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

     [ENAMETOOLONG]	A component of a pathname exceeded 255 characters, or
			an entire path name exceeded 1023 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 translat-
			ing the pathname.

     [EINVAL]		The named file is not a symbolic link.

     [EIO]		An I/O error occurred while reading from the file sys-
			tem.

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

SEE ALSO
     lstat(2), stat(2), symlink(2), symlink(7)

HISTORY
     The readlink() function call appeared in 4.2BSD.

FreeBSD 4.8			 June 4, 1993			   FreeBSD 4.8