NAME

realpath — resolve a pathname

SYNOPSIS

#include <stdlib.h>

char *realpath(const char *restrict file_name,
       char *restrict resolved_name);


DESCRIPTION

The realpath() function shall derive, from the pathname pointed to by file_name, an absolute pathname that resolves to the same directory entry, whose resolution does not involve '.', '..', or symbolic links. If resolved_name is a null pointer, the generated pathname shall be stored as a null-terminated string in a buffer allocated as if by a call to malloc(). Otherwise, if {PATH_MAX} is defined as a constant in the <limits.h> header, then the generated pathname shall be stored as a null-terminated string, up to a maximum of {PATH_MAX} bytes, in the buffer pointed to by resolved_name.

If resolved_name is not a null pointer and {PATH_MAX} is not defined as a constant in the <limits.h> header, the behavior is undefined.

RETURN VALUE

Upon successful completion, realpath() shall return a pointer to the buffer containing the resolved name. Otherwise, realpath() shall return a null pointer and set errno to indicate the error.

If the resolved_name argument is a null pointer, the pointer returned by realpath() can be passed to free().

If the resolved_name argument is not a null pointer and the realpath() function fails, the contents of the buffer pointed to by resolved_name are undefined.

ERRORS

The realpath() function shall fail if:

[EACCES]

Search permission was denied for a component of the path prefix of file_name.

[EINVAL]

The file_name argument is a null pointer.

[EIO]

An error occurred while reading from the file system.

[ELOOP]

A loop exists in symbolic links encountered during resolution of the file_name argument.

[ENAMETOOLONG]

The length of a component of a pathname is longer than {NAME_MAX}.

[ENOENT]

A component of file_name does not name an existing file or file_name points to an empty string.

[ENOTDIR]

A component of the path prefix names an existing file that is neither a directory nor a symbolic link to a directory, or the file_name argument contains at least one non-<slash> character and ends with one or more trailing <slash> characters and the last pathname component names an existing file that is neither a directory nor a symbolic link to a directory.

The realpath() function may fail if:

[EACCES]

The file_name argument does not begin with a <slash> and none of the symbolic links (if any) processed during pathname resolution of file_name had contents that began with a <slash>, and either search permission was denied for the current directory or read or search permission was denied for a directory above the current directory in the file hierarchy.

[ELOOP]

More than {SYMLOOP_MAX} symbolic links were encountered during resolution of the file_name argument.

[ENAMETOOLONG]

The length of a pathname exceeds {PATH_MAX}, or pathname resolution of a symbolic link produced an intermediate result with a length that exceeds {PATH_MAX}.

[ENOMEM]

Insufficient storage space is available.

EXAMPLES

Generating an Absolute Pathname

The following example generates an absolute pathname for the file identified by the symlinkpath argument. The generated pathname is stored in the buffer pointed to by actualpath.

#include <stdlib.h>
...
char *symlinkpath = "/tmp/symlink/file";
char *actualpath;


actualpath = realpath(symlinkpath, NULL);
if (actualpath != NULL)
{
    ... use actualpath ...


    free(actualpath);
}
else
{
    ... handle error ...
}

APPLICATION USAGE

For functions that allocate memory as if by malloc(), the application should release such memory when it is no longer required by a call to free(). For realpath(), this is the return value.

RATIONALE

Since realpath() has no length argument, if {PATH_MAX} is not defined as a constant in <limits.h>, applications have no way of determining how large a buffer they need to allocate for it to be safe to pass to realpath(). A {PATH_MAX} value obtained from a prior pathconf() call is out-of-date by the time realpath() is called. Hence the only reliable way to use realpath() when {PATH_MAX} is not defined in <limits.h> is to pass a null pointer for resolved_name so that realpath() will allocate a buffer of the necessary size.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

None.

SEE ALSO

fpathconf, free, getcwd, sysconf

XBD <limits.h>, <stdlib.h>

CHANGE HISTORY

First released in Issue 4, Version 2.

Issue 5

Moved from X/OPEN UNIX extension to BASE.

Issue 6

The restrict keyword is added to the realpath() prototype for alignment with the ISO/IEC 9899:1999 standard.

The wording of the mandatory [ELOOP] error condition is updated, and a second optional [ELOOP] error condition is added.

IEEE Std 1003.1-2001/Cor 1-2002, item XSH/TC1/D6/51 is applied, adding new text to the DESCRIPTION for the case when resolved_name is a null pointer, changing the [EINVAL] error text, adding text to the RATIONALE, and adding text to FUTURE DIRECTIONS.

IEEE Std 1003.1-2001/Cor 2-2004, item XSH/TC2/D6/110 is applied, updating the ERRORS section to refer to the file_name argument, rather than a nonexistent path argument.

Issue 7

Austin Group Interpretation 1003.1-2001 #143 is applied.

This function is updated for passing a null pointer to realpath() for the resolved_name argument.

The APPLICATION USAGE section is updated to clarify that memory is allocated as if by malloc().

POSIX.1-2008, Technical Corrigendum 1, XSH/TC1-2008/0499 [353], XSH/TC1-2008/0500 [324], and XSH/TC1-2008/0501 [353] are applied.

Issue 8

Austin Group Defect 1663 is applied, removing XSI shading from realpath().