readlink(1)

💅 readlink(1) — General Commands Manual

okay bestie, sit down, grab a boba 🧋 because today we're learning readlink, and honestly? it's giving "tiny command, huge main character energy" 👑

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✨ NAME ✨

readlink — print the value of a symbolic link or the canonical file name. that's it. that's the whole job. iconic behavior 💖

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

readlink [-f|--canonicalize] [-e|--canonicalize-existing]
[-m|--canonicalize-missing] [-n|--no-newline] [-q|--quiet] [-s|--silent]
[-v|--verbose] [-z|--zero] [-h|--help] [-V|--version] [files]

like yes, that's a lot of little dashy boys, but they're all your friends, i promise 🫶

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

print the value of a symbolic link, or the canonical file name. that's the vibe. you point it at a symlink, it tells you where that symlink is actually pointing, no drama, no guessing, just receipts ✨

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👑 OPTIONS 👑

• -f, --canonicalize — canonicalize by following every symlink in every component of the given name, recursively. lowkey important caveat: all but the last component must exist. the last one gets a pass, bestie 💅
• -e, --canonicalize-existing — same recursive symlink-following energy, but stricter: all components must exist. no missing pieces allowed, periodt.
• -m, --canonicalize-missing — again, canonicalize by following every symlink in every component of the given name recursively, but this time there are no requirements on whether those components exist. chaotic? yes. useful? also yes 🦋
• -n, --no-newline — do not output the trailing delimiter. so no little newline at the end. keep it tight ✨
• -q, --quiet — suppress most error messages. shhh. we don't talk about it 🤫
• -s, --silent — suppress most error messages. yeah, same energy as -q, they're twins fr fr 💜
• -v, --verbose — report the error message. so when something goes wrong, it actually tells you 👀
• -z, --zero — separate output with NUL rather than newline. that's the zero byte, not the letter. very specific, very cute 🎀
• -h, --help — print help. your girl always comes through 💖
• -V, --version — print version. so you know exactly which era of this command you're living in ⭐
• [files] — the file(s) you're throwing at it. yes, you can pass more than one. go off 🌈

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🌟 VERSION 🌟

v(uutils coreutils) 0.7.0

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and that's the whole page bestie, no cap 💅

ngl the "all but the last component must exist" thing with -f versus the "all components must exist" thing with -e is exactly the kind of detail people get wrong on the first try, so keep those receipts safe 🙈

readlink (uutils coreutils) 0.7.0 — that's the source and the version, mwah, slay, hope this helped you understand your symlinks better 🎀✨🦋🫶