[ Python 常見問題 ] How to get symbolic link target in Python?

 Source From Here

Question
How do I extract the target path from a symbolic link?

HowTo
The problem with os.readlink() is it will only resolve 1 step of the link. We can have a situation where A links to another link B, and B link is dangling:

$ ln -s /tmp/example/notexist /tmp/example/B
$ ln -s /tmp/example/B /tmp/example/A
$ ls -l /tmp/example
A -> /tmp/example/B
B -> /tmp/example/notexist

Now in Python, os.readlink() gives you the first target:

>>> import os
>>> os.readlink('A')
'/tmp/example/B'

But in most situations I assume we are interested in the resolved path. So pathlib can help here:

>>> from pathlib import Path
>>> Path('A').resolve()
PosixPath('/tmp/example/notexist')

This message was edited 5 times. Last update was at 25/01/2022 20:27:24