Q. Some of my programs and scripts needs a real path and not a a symbolic link. How to I determine a real path of any directory under Linux / UNIX operating systems? How do I remove references to /./, /../ and extra '/' character in path?
A. To get physical path use realpath command. The realpath command uses the realpath() function to resolve all symbolic links, extra / characters and references to /./ and /../ in path. This is useful for shell scripting and security related applications.
realpath examples
Resolve symbolic link:
$ realpath /home
Sample output:
/usr/home
Remove characters:
$ realpath /etc//apache/.
$ realpath ./foo
$ realpath /../some/where///./../path/
realpath includes with many distro and UNIX operating system such as FreeBSD. To install realpath under Debian / Ubuntu Linux, enter:
$ sudo apt-get install realpath
readlink command
Please note that mostly the same functionality is provided by the -f option of the readlink command:
$ readlink -f /home
Further readings:
- man pages readlink, realpath
Featured Articles:
- 20 Linux System Monitoring Tools Every SysAdmin Should Know
- 20 Linux Server Hardening Security Tips
- My 10 UNIX Command Line Mistakes
- Linux: 20 Iptables Examples For New SysAdmins
- 25 PHP Security Best Practices For Sys Admins
- The Novice Guide To Buying A Linux Laptop
- 10 Greatest Open Source Software Of 2009
- Top 5 Email Client For Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows Users
- Top 20 OpenSSH Server Best Security Practices
- Top 10 Open Source Web-Based Project Management Software
- Top 5 Linux Video Editor Software
Facebook it - Tweet it - Print it -
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I cant’t find realpath in CentOS. Coud you address me?
Use readlink -f /path/to/file/or/dir command under RHEL / CentOS.
Thanks!!!
why you dont use the command
pwd -P
comes out of the box…
pwd -P
works for folders only
if you have file as link to different file pwd -P will not help