symlink — make a new name for a file
#include <unistd.h>
int
symlink( |
const char *oldpath, |
const char *newpath) ; |
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symlink
() creates a symbolic
link named newpath
which contains the string oldpath
.
Symbolic links are interpreted at run time as if the contents of the link had been substituted into the path being followed to find a file or directory.
Symbolic links may contain ..
path components, which (if used at the
start of the link) refer to the parent directories of that in
which the link resides.
A symbolic link (also known as a soft link) may point to an existing file or to a nonexistent one; the latter case is known as a dangling link.
The permissions of a symbolic link are irrelevant; the
ownership is ignored when following the link, but is checked
when removal or renaming of the link is requested and the
link is in a directory with the sticky bit (S_ISVTX
) set.
If newpath
exists
it will not
be
overwritten.
On success, zero is returned. On error, −1 is
returned, and errno
is set
appropriately.
Write access to the directory containing newpath
is denied, or one
of the directories in the path prefix of newpath
did not allow
search permission. (See also path_resolution(7).)
newpath
already exists.
oldpath
or
newpath
points
outside your accessible address space.
An I/O error occurred.
Too many symbolic links were encountered in
resolving newpath
.
oldpath
or
newpath
was too
long.
A directory component in newpath
does not exist or
is a dangling symbolic link, or oldpath
is the empty
string.
Insufficient kernel memory was available.
The device containing the file has no room for the new directory entry.
A component used as a directory in newpath
is not, in fact,
a directory.
The file system containing newpath
does not support
the creation of symbolic links.
newpath
is
on a read-only file system.
No checking of oldpath
is done.
Deleting the name referred to by a symlink will actually delete the file (unless it also has other hard links). If this behavior is not desired, use link(2).
ln(1), lchown(2), link(2), lstat(2), open(2), readlink(2), rename(2), symlinkat(2), unlink(2), path_resolution(7), symlink(7)