[Chapter 3] 3.2.118 readlink
Author: Larry Wall, Tom Christiansen & Randal L. Schwartz
Date: 1999-07-02T01:52:48Z

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| Chapter 3 Functions |

### 3.2.118 readlink

    readlink EXPR

This function returns the name of a file pointed to by a symbolic link. `EXPR` should evaluate to a filename, the last component of which is a symbolic link. If it is not a symbolic link, or if symbolic links are not implemented, or if some system error occurs, the undefined value is returned, and you should check the error code in `$!`. If `EXPR` is omitted, the function uses $_.

Be aware that the returned symlink may be relative to the location you specified. For instance, you may say:

    readlink "/usr/local/src/express/yourself.h"

and readlink might return:

    ../express.1.23/includes/yourself.h

which is not directly usable as a filename unless your current directory happens to be `/usr/local/src/express`.

3.2.117 readdir |  | 3.2.119 recv