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readfile	realpath

Filesystem Functions	Last updated: Mon, 26 Oct 2026

readlink

(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)

readlink — Returns the target of a symbolic link

Description

function readlink(string $path): string|false

readlink() does the same as the readlink C function.

Parameters

path: The symbolic link path.

Return Values

Returns the contents of the symbolic link path or false on error.

Note:
The function fails if path is not a symlink, except on Windows, where the normalized path will be returned.

Examples

Example #1 readlink() example

<?php

// output e.g. /boot/vmlinux-2.4.20-xfs
echo readlink('/vmlinuz');

?>

See Also

is_link() - Tells whether the filename is a symbolic link
symlink() - Creates a symbolic link
linkinfo() - Gets information about a link

readfile	realpath

Filesystem Functions	Last updated: Mon, 26 Oct 2026