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SYMLINK(2) System Calls Manual SYMLINK(2)

symlink, symlinkat — make symbolic link to a file

library “libc”

#include <unistd.h>

int
symlink(const char *name1, const char *name2);

int
symlinkat(const char *name1, int fd, const char *name2);

A symbolic link name2 is created to name1 (name2 is the name of the file created, name1 is the string used in creating the symbolic link). Either name may be an arbitrary path name; the files need not be on the same file system.

The () system call is equivalent to () except in the case where name2 specifies a relative path. In this case the symbolic link is created relative to the directory associated with the file descriptor fd instead of the current working directory. If symlinkat() is passed the special value AT_FDCWD in the fd parameter, the current working directory is used and the behavior is identical to a call to symlink().

The symlink() function returns the value 0 if successful; otherwise the value -1 is returned and the global variable errno is set to indicate the error.

The symbolic link succeeds unless:

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A component of the name2 path prefix is not a directory.
[]
A component of the name2 pathname exceeded 255 characters, or the entire length of either path name exceeded 1023 characters.
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A component of the name2 path prefix does not exist.
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A component of the name2 path prefix denies search permission, or write permission is denied on the parent directory of the file to be created.
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Too many symbolic links were encountered in translating the name2 path name.
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The path name pointed at by the name2 argument already exists.
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The parent directory of the file named by name2 has its immutable flag set, see the chflags(2) manual page for more information.
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An I/O error occurred while making the directory entry for name2, or allocating the inode for name2, or writing out the link contents of name2.
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The file name2 would reside on a read-only file system.
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The directory in which the entry for the new symbolic link is being placed cannot be extended because there is no space left on the file system containing the directory.
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The new symbolic link cannot be created because there is no space left on the file system that will contain the symbolic link.
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There are no free inodes on the file system on which the symbolic link is being created.
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The directory in which the entry for the new symbolic link is being placed cannot be extended because the user's quota of disk blocks on the file system containing the directory has been exhausted.
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The new symbolic link cannot be created because the user's quota of disk blocks on the file system that will contain the symbolic link has been exhausted.
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The user's quota of inodes on the file system on which the symbolic link is being created has been exhausted.
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An I/O error occurred while making the directory entry or allocating the inode.
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The name1 or name2 argument points outside the process's allocated address space.

In addition to the errors returned by the symlink(), the symlinkat() may fail if:

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The name2 argument does not specify an absolute path and the fd argument is neither AT_FDCWD nor a valid file descriptor open for searching.
[]
The name2 argument is not an absolute path and fd is neither AT_FDCWD nor a file descriptor associated with a directory.

ln(1), chflags(2), link(2), lstat(2), readlink(2), unlink(2), symlink(7)

The symlinkat() system call follows The Open Group Extended API Set 2 specification.

The symlink() system call appeared in 4.2BSD. The symlinkat() system call appeared in FreeBSD 8.0.

April 10, 2008 FreeBSD-12.0