Function

GLib-2.0GLibfile_read_linkSince 2.4

  • Reads the contents of the symbolic link filename like the POSIX readlink() function.

    The returned string is in the encoding used for filenames. Use g_filename_to_utf8() to convert it to UTF-8.

    The returned string may also be a relative path. Use g_build_filename() to convert it to an absolute path:

    g_autoptr(GError) local_error = NULL;
    g_autofree gchar *link_target = g_file_read_link ("/etc/localtime", &local_error);

    if (local_error != NULL)
    g_error ("Error reading link: %s", local_error->message);

    if (!g_path_is_absolute (link_target))
    {
    g_autofree gchar *absolute_link_target = g_build_filename ("/etc", link_target, NULL);
    g_free (link_target);
    link_target = g_steal_pointer (&absolute_link_target);
    }

    Parameters

    • filename: string

      the symbolic link

    Returns string

    A newly-allocated string with the contents of the symbolic link, or null if an error occurred.

    2.4