[Go to CFHT Home Page] Man Pages
Back to Software Index  BORDER=0Manpage Top Level
    symlink(2) manual page Table of Contents

Name

symlink - make a symbolic link to a file

Synopsis

#include <unistd.h>

int symlink(const char *name1, const char *name2);

Description

symlink() creates a symbolic link name2 to the file name1. Either name may be an arbitrary pathname, the files need not be on the same file system, and name1 may be nonexistent.

The file to which the symbolic link points is used when an open(2) operation is performed on the link. A stat(2) on a symbolic link returns the linked-to file, while an lstat returns information about the link itself. This can lead to surprising results when a symbolic link is made to a directory. To avoid confusion in programs, the readlink(2) call can be used to read the contents of a symbolic link.

Return Values

Upon successful completion symlink() returns a value of 0; otherwise, it returns -1 and places an error code in errno.

Errors

The symbolic link is made unless one or more of the following are true:

EACCES
Search permission is denied for a component of the path prefix of name2.
EDQUOT
The directory where the entry for the new symbolic link is being placed cannot be extended because the user’s quota of disk blocks on that file system has been exhausted.
The new symbolic link cannot be created
because the user’s quota of disk blocks on that file system has been exhausted.
The user’s quota of inodes on the file system where
the file is being created has been exhausted.
EEXIST
The file referred to by name2 already exists.
EFAULT
name1 or name2 points to an illegal address.
EIO
An I/O error occurs while reading from or writing to the file system.
ELOOP
Too many symbolic links are encountered in translating name2.
ENAMETOOLONG
The length of the name2 argument exceeds {PATH_MAX}, or the length of a name2 component exceeds {NAME_MAX} while (_POSIX_NO_TRUNC) is in effect.
ENOENT
A component of the path prefix of name2 does not exist.
ENOSPC
The directory in which the entry for the new symbolic link is being placed cannot be extended because no space is left on the file system containing the directory.
The new symbolic link cannot be created because
no space is left on the file system which will contain the link.
There are no free inodes on the file system on which the file is being created.

ENOSYS
The file system does not support symbolic links
ENOTDIR
A component of the path prefix of name2 is not a directory.
EROFS
The file name2 would reside on a read-only file system.

See Also

cp(1) , link(2) , open(2) , readlink(2) , stat(2) , unlink(2)

Table of Contents