realpath

Examples (TL;DR)

• Display the absolute path for a file or directory: realpath path/to/file_or_directory
• Require all path components to exist: realpath --canonicalize-existing path/to/file_or_directory
• Resolve ".." components before symlinks: realpath --logical path/to/file_or_directory
• Disable symlink expansion: realpath --no-symlinks path/to/file_or_directory
• Suppress error messages: realpath --quiet path/to/file_or_directory

tldr.sh

Synopsis

realpath [OPTION]... FILE...

Description

Print the resolved absolute file name; all but the last component must exist

-e, --canonicalize-existing

all components of the path must exist

-m, --canonicalize-missing

no path components need exist or be a directory

-L, --logical

resolve '..' components before symlinks

-P, --physical

resolve symlinks as encountered (default)

-q, --quiet

suppress most error messages

--relative-to=DIR

print the resolved path relative to DIR

--relative-base=DIR

print absolute paths unless paths below DIR

-s, --strip, --no-symlinks

don't expand symlinks

-z, --zero

end each output line with NUL, not newline

--help

display this help and exit

--version

output version information and exit

Author

Written by Padraig Brady.

Reporting Bugs

GNU coreutils online help: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>

Copyright

Copyright © 2019 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

See Also

readlink(1), readlink(2), realpath(3)

Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/realpath>
or available locally via: info '(coreutils) realpath invocation'

Referenced By

mksh(1), readlink(1), realpath(3).