NAME

std::filesystem::read_symlink - std::filesystem::read_symlink

Synopsis

Defined in header <filesystem>
std::filesystem::path read_symlink(const std::filesystem::path& p);

std::filesystem::path read_symlink(const std::filesystem::path& p, (since C++17)

std::error_code& ec);

If the path p refers to a symbolic link, returns a new path object which refers to
the target of that symbolic link.

It is an error if p does not refer to a symbolic link.

The non-throwing overload returns an empty path on errors.

Parameters

p - path to a symlink
ec - out-parameter for error reporting in the non-throwing overload

Return value

The target of the symlink (which may not necessarily exist)

Exceptions

The overload that does not take a std::error_code& parameter throws
filesystem::filesystem_error on underlying OS API errors, constructed with p as the
first path argument and the OS error code as the error code argument. The overload
taking a std::error_code& parameter sets it to the OS API error code if an OS API
call fails, and executes ec.clear() if no errors occur. Any overload not marked
noexcept may throw std::bad_alloc if memory allocation fails.

Example

// Run this code

#include <iostream>
#include <filesystem>

namespace fs = std::filesystem;

int main()
{
for(fs::path p : {"/usr/bin/gcc", "/bin/cat", "/bin/mouse"}) {
std::cout << p;
fs::exists(p)
? fs::is_symlink(p)
? std::cout << " -> " << fs::read_symlink(p) << '\n'
: std::cout << " exists but it is not a symlink\n"
: std::cout << " does not exist\n";
}
}

Possible output:

"/usr/bin/gcc" -> "gcc-5"
"/bin/cat" exists but it is not a symlink
"/bin/mouse" does not exist