xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/stdlib/realpath.3 (revision daf1cffce2e07931f27c6c6998652e90df6ba87e)
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35.\"     @(#)realpath.3	8.2 (Berkeley) 2/16/94
36.\" $FreeBSD$
37.\"
38.Dd February 16, 1994
39.Dt REALPATH 3
40.Os
41.Sh NAME
42.Nm realpath
43.Nd returns the canonicalized absolute pathname
44.Sh SYNOPSIS
45.Fd #include <sys/param.h>
46.Fd #include <stdlib.h>
47.Ft "char *"
48.Fn realpath "const char *pathname" "char resolved_path[MAXPATHLEN]"
49.Sh DESCRIPTION
50The
51.Fn realpath
52function resolves all symbolic links, extra
53.Dq /
54characters and references to
55.Pa /./
56and
57.Pa /../
58in
59.Fa pathname ,
60and copies the resulting absolute pathname into
61the memory referenced by
62.Fa resolved_path .
63The
64.Fa resolved_path
65argument
66.Em must
67refer to a buffer capable of storing at least
68.Dv MAXPATHLEN
69characters.
70.Pp
71The
72.Fn realpath
73function will resolve both absolute and relative paths
74and return the absolute pathname corresponding to
75.Fa pathname .
76All but the last component of
77.Fa pathname
78must exist when
79.Fn realpath
80is called.
81.Sh "RETURN VALUES"
82The
83.Fn realpath
84function returns
85.Fa resolved_path
86on success.
87If an error occurs,
88.Fn realpath
89returns
90.Dv NULL ,
91and
92.Fa resolved_path
93contains the pathname which caused the problem.
94.Sh ERRORS
95The function
96.Fn realpath
97may fail and set the external variable
98.Va errno
99for any of the errors specified for the library functions
100.Xr chdir 2 ,
101.Xr close 2 ,
102.Xr fchdir 2 ,
103.Xr lstat 2 ,
104.Xr open 2 ,
105.Xr readlink 2
106and
107.Xr getcwd 3 .
108.Sh CAVEATS
109This implementation of
110.Fn realpath
111differs slightly from the Solaris implementation.
112The
113.Bx 4.4
114version always returns absolute pathnames,
115whereas the Solaris implementation will,
116under certain circumstances, return a relative
117.Fa resolved_path
118when given a relative
119.Fa pathname .
120.Sh "SEE ALSO"
121.Xr getcwd 3
122.Sh HISTORY
123The
124.Fn realpath
125function call first appeared in
126.Bx 4.4 .
127