how to find real file from link

Question

ls -l java
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 22 2019-02-17 11:37 java -> /etc/anotherLink/java

when I do ls -l it shows path to file, but that file can also be a link. is there any way to show path to real file?

Rafał Cieślak · Answer 1 · 2011-12-28 15:35:26Z

up vote 3 down vote

Try using file command.

It shows details about a given file (type, contents format)

Example:

$ cp -s temp.sh temp2.sh
$ file temp2.sh 
temp2.sh: symbolic link to `temp.sh'

answered Dec 28 '11 at 15:35

Rafał Cieślak
5,39612160

user8290 · Answer 2 · 2011-12-28 15:35:29Z

I think what you want is readlink:

readlink -f java

To find this, I asked which manual page might by appropriate for symbolic links.

apropos "symbolic link"

It returned a reference to readlink, so I used the manual:

man readlink

I read the manual page:

-f, --canonicalize canonicalize by following every symlink in every component of the given name recursively; all but the last component must exist

Is this what you are looking for?

2 Answers