SYMLINK_LIST(1)

📦 version 1.8.16.1, in nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable

okay so this is symlink_list, bestie — it's the little man page that shows you where a symlink is actually pointing. welcome to the group chat, the manual name is SYMLINK_LIST and yes it's giving very niche-but-iconic ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

symlink_list — shows you the file that a symlink points to. Windows only, no cap 🪟

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

symlink list [-name] <file name> [-help]

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

the symlink list command is literally the vibe check for symlinks: it shows you if a file is a symbolic link and, if it is, it shows you which file the link points to. that's it, that's the whole job, and it ate 🔥

💀 CAUTIONS 💀

okay so hear me: the symlink commands are only available on Windows platforms. on any other platform? use the readlink command instead, bestie. don't come crying to me. 🫶

✨ OPTIONS ✨

  • [-name] <file name> — specify one or more symbolic links to list. the -name part is optional, but the file name is not optional, so like… don't skip it 💅
  • -help — prints the online help for this command. all other valid options are ignored, so it's giving "I'm the main character and everyone else can sit down" 👑

🌈 OUTPUT 🌈

this command prints one of two things, and honestly it's so straightforward it's kind of slay:

  • 'file' is a symlink to 'otherfile'
  • 'file' is not a symlink.

like. that's the whole output. periodt. 💅

🍓 EXAMPLES 🍓

given that file mylink is a link pointing to file myfile, the following commands will list the files:

% symlink list -name mylink
'mylink' is a symlink to 'myfile'

% symlink list mylink
'mylink' is a symlink to 'myfile'

% symlink list -name myfile
'myfile' is not a symlink.

% symlink list myfile
'myfile' is not a symlink.

see how the last two are like "nope, not a symlink"? iconic. consistent. we love a predictable queen 👑✨

🔥 PRIVILEGE REQUIRED 🔥

the issuer must have the l (look) and r (read) permissions on the ACL of the directory that houses the symlink. no perms, no peek, iykyk 🙈

🧚 SEE ALSO 🧚

symlink(1), symlink_make(1), symlink_remove(1) — go read those too, they're the rest of the friend group 💜

Copyright 2007 Jason Edgecombe <jason@rampaginggeek.com>

This documentation is covered by the BSD License as written in the doc/LICENSE file. This man page was written by Jason Edgecombe for OpenAFS.

okay that's the whole page, you're welcome, go list some symlinks 💅✨ this one's from OpenAFS, version dated 2026-06-25 — stan a maintained man page 🫶🎀

📦 where this page comes from