4.2BSD/usr/man/man2/readlink.2

.TH READLINK 2 "2 July 1983"
.UC 4
.SH NAME
readlink \- read value of a symbolic link
.SH SYNOPSIS
.nf
.ft B
cc = readlink(path, buf, bufsiz)
int cc;
char *path, *buf;
int bufsiz;
.fi
.ft R
.SH DESCRIPTION
.I Readlink
places the contents of the symbolic link
.I name
in the buffer
.I buf
which has size
.IR bufsiz . 
The contents of the link are not null terminated when returned.
.SH "RETURN VALUE
The call returns the count of characters placed in the buffer
if it succeeds, or a \-1 if an error occurs, placing the error
code in the global variable \fIerrno\fP.
.SH "ERRORS
.I Readlink
will fail and the file mode will be unchanged if:
.TP 15
[EPERM]
The \fIpath\fP argument contained a byte with the high-order bit set.
.TP 15
[ENOENT]
The pathname was too long.
.TP 15
[ENOTDIR]
A component of the path prefix is not a directory.
.TP 15
[ENOENT]
The named file does not exist.
.TP 15
[ENXIO]
The named file is not a symbolic link.
.TP 15
[EACCES]
Search permission is denied on a component of the path prefix.
.TP 15
[EPERM]
The effective user ID does not match the owner of the file and
the effective user ID is not the super-user.
.TP 15
[EINVAL]
The named file is not a symbolic link.
.TP 15
[EFAULT]
.I Buf
extends outside the process's allocated address space.
.TP 15
[ELOOP]
Too many symbolic links were encountered in translating the pathname.
.SH SEE ALSO
stat(2), lstat(2), symlink(2)