PHP: readlink - Manual (original) (raw)

(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)

readlink — Returns the target of a symbolic link

Description

Parameters

path

The symbolic link path.

Return Values

Returns the contents of the symbolic link path or [false](reserved.constants.php#constant.false) on error.

Note: The function fails if path is not a symlink, except on Windows, where the normalized path will be returned.

Examples

Example #1 readlink() example

<?php// output e.g. /boot/vmlinux-2.4.20-xfs echo readlink('/vmlinuz');?>

Found A Problem?

MarkAndrewSlade at gmail dot com ¶

16 years ago

This will trigger a warning and return false if you pass it a non-symlink.  If the file doesn't exist, it will trigger a differently worded warning.

mslade@jupiter ~$ touch a
mslade@jupiter ~$ ln -s a b
mslade@jupiter ~$ ls -l {a,b}
-rw------- 1 mslade mslade 0 2009-06-10 15:27 a
lrwxrwxrwx 1 mslade mslade 1 2009-06-10 15:27 b -> a
mslade@jupiter ~$ php -r "var_dump(readlink('b'));"
string(1) "a"
mslade@jupiter ~$ php -r "var_dump(readlink('a'));"

Warning: readlink(): Invalid argument in Command line code on line 1
bool(false)
mslade@jupiter ~$ php -r "var_dump(readlink('c'));"

Warning: readlink(): No such file or directory in Command line code on line 1
bool(false)

casinero dot triste at OH_NO_SPAM dot gmail dot com ¶

8 years ago

A little function to readlink TO THE END:
(realpath can't do this if the symlink (ultimately) points to a non-existing path, since it just returns false in this case.)

function readlinkToEnd($linkFilename) {
  if(!is_link($linkFilename)) return $linkFilename;
  <span class="katex"><span class="katex-mathml"><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><semantics><mrow><mi>f</mi><mi>i</mi><mi>n</mi><mi>a</mi><mi>l</mi><mo>=</mo></mrow><annotation encoding="application/x-tex">final = </annotation></semantics></math></span><span class="katex-html" aria-hidden="true"><span class="base"><span class="strut" style="height:0.8889em;vertical-align:-0.1944em;"></span><span class="mord mathnormal" style="margin-right:0.10764em;">f</span><span class="mord mathnormal">ina</span><span class="mord mathnormal" style="margin-right:0.01968em;">l</span><span class="mspace" style="margin-right:0.2778em;"></span><span class="mrel">=</span></span></span></span>linkFilename;
  while(true) {
    <span class="katex"><span class="katex-mathml"><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><semantics><mrow><mi>t</mi><mi>a</mi><mi>r</mi><mi>g</mi><mi>e</mi><mi>t</mi><mo>=</mo><mi>r</mi><mi>e</mi><mi>a</mi><mi>d</mi><mi>l</mi><mi>i</mi><mi>n</mi><mi>k</mi><mo stretchy="false">(</mo></mrow><annotation encoding="application/x-tex">target = readlink(</annotation></semantics></math></span><span class="katex-html" aria-hidden="true"><span class="base"><span class="strut" style="height:0.8095em;vertical-align:-0.1944em;"></span><span class="mord mathnormal">t</span><span class="mord mathnormal">a</span><span class="mord mathnormal" style="margin-right:0.02778em;">r</span><span class="mord mathnormal" style="margin-right:0.03588em;">g</span><span class="mord mathnormal">e</span><span class="mord mathnormal">t</span><span class="mspace" style="margin-right:0.2778em;"></span><span class="mrel">=</span><span class="mspace" style="margin-right:0.2778em;"></span></span><span class="base"><span class="strut" style="height:1em;vertical-align:-0.25em;"></span><span class="mord mathnormal">re</span><span class="mord mathnormal">a</span><span class="mord mathnormal">d</span><span class="mord mathnormal" style="margin-right:0.01968em;">l</span><span class="mord mathnormal" style="margin-right:0.03148em;">ink</span><span class="mopen">(</span></span></span></span>final);
    if(substr($target, 0, 1)=='/') <span class="katex"><span class="katex-mathml"><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><semantics><mrow><mi>f</mi><mi>i</mi><mi>n</mi><mi>a</mi><mi>l</mi><mo>=</mo></mrow><annotation encoding="application/x-tex">final = </annotation></semantics></math></span><span class="katex-html" aria-hidden="true"><span class="base"><span class="strut" style="height:0.8889em;vertical-align:-0.1944em;"></span><span class="mord mathnormal" style="margin-right:0.10764em;">f</span><span class="mord mathnormal">ina</span><span class="mord mathnormal" style="margin-right:0.01968em;">l</span><span class="mspace" style="margin-right:0.2778em;"></span><span class="mrel">=</span></span></span></span>target;
    else <span class="katex"><span class="katex-mathml"><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><semantics><mrow><mi>f</mi><mi>i</mi><mi>n</mi><mi>a</mi><mi>l</mi><mo>=</mo><mi>d</mi><mi>i</mi><mi>r</mi><mi>n</mi><mi>a</mi><mi>m</mi><mi>e</mi><mo stretchy="false">(</mo></mrow><annotation encoding="application/x-tex">final = dirname(</annotation></semantics></math></span><span class="katex-html" aria-hidden="true"><span class="base"><span class="strut" style="height:0.8889em;vertical-align:-0.1944em;"></span><span class="mord mathnormal" style="margin-right:0.10764em;">f</span><span class="mord mathnormal">ina</span><span class="mord mathnormal" style="margin-right:0.01968em;">l</span><span class="mspace" style="margin-right:0.2778em;"></span><span class="mrel">=</span><span class="mspace" style="margin-right:0.2778em;"></span></span><span class="base"><span class="strut" style="height:1em;vertical-align:-0.25em;"></span><span class="mord mathnormal">d</span><span class="mord mathnormal">i</span><span class="mord mathnormal" style="margin-right:0.02778em;">r</span><span class="mord mathnormal">nam</span><span class="mord mathnormal">e</span><span class="mopen">(</span></span></span></span>final).'/'.$target;
    if(substr($final, 0, 2)=='./') <span class="katex"><span class="katex-mathml"><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><semantics><mrow><mi>f</mi><mi>i</mi><mi>n</mi><mi>a</mi><mi>l</mi><mo>=</mo><mi>s</mi><mi>u</mi><mi>b</mi><mi>s</mi><mi>t</mi><mi>r</mi><mo stretchy="false">(</mo></mrow><annotation encoding="application/x-tex">final = substr(</annotation></semantics></math></span><span class="katex-html" aria-hidden="true"><span class="base"><span class="strut" style="height:0.8889em;vertical-align:-0.1944em;"></span><span class="mord mathnormal" style="margin-right:0.10764em;">f</span><span class="mord mathnormal">ina</span><span class="mord mathnormal" style="margin-right:0.01968em;">l</span><span class="mspace" style="margin-right:0.2778em;"></span><span class="mrel">=</span><span class="mspace" style="margin-right:0.2778em;"></span></span><span class="base"><span class="strut" style="height:1em;vertical-align:-0.25em;"></span><span class="mord mathnormal">s</span><span class="mord mathnormal">u</span><span class="mord mathnormal">b</span><span class="mord mathnormal">s</span><span class="mord mathnormal">t</span><span class="mord mathnormal" style="margin-right:0.02778em;">r</span><span class="mopen">(</span></span></span></span>final, 2);
    if(!is_link($final)) return $final;
  }
}