std::filesystem::read_symlink - cppreference.com (original) (raw)

Defined in header
std::filesystem::path read_symlink( const std::filesystem::path& p ); (1) (since C++17)
std::filesystem::path read_symlink( const std::filesystem::path& p, std::error_code& ec ); (2) (since C++17)

If the path p refers to a symbolic link, returns a new path object which refers to the target of that symbolic link.

It is an error if p does not refer to a symbolic link.

The non-throwing overload returns an empty path on errors.

[edit] Parameters

p - path to a symlink
ec - out-parameter for error reporting in the non-throwing overload

[edit] Return value

The target of the symlink (which may not necessarily exist).

[edit] Exceptions

Any overload not marked noexcept may throw std::bad_alloc if memory allocation fails.

  1. Throws std::filesystem::filesystem_error on underlying OS API errors, constructed with p as the first path argument and the OS error code as the error code argument.

  2. Sets a std::error_code& parameter to the OS API error code if an OS API call fails, and executes ec.clear() if no errors occur.

[edit] Example

#include #include   namespace fs = std::filesystem;   int main() { for (fs::path p : {"/usr/bin/gcc", "/bin/cat", "/bin/mouse"}) { std::cout << p; fs::exists(p) ? fs::is_symlink(p) ? std::cout << " -> " << fs::read_symlink(p) << '\n' : std::cout << " exists but it is not a symlink\n" : std::cout << " does not exist\n"; } }

Possible output:

"/usr/bin/gcc" -> "gcc-5" "/bin/cat" exists but it is not a symlink "/bin/mouse" does not exist

[edit] See also