realpath

Resolve absolute canonical file paths

TLDR

Get absolute path of a file

$ realpath [file.txt]

Resolve symlinks and get canonical path

$ realpath [symlink]

Get path without resolving symlinks

$ realpath -s [symlink]

Get path relative to another directory

$ realpath --relative-to=[/base/path] [/full/path/file]

Get relative base path

$ realpath --relative-base=[/base] [/base/subdir/file]

Get absolute paths for multiple files

$ realpath [file1] [file2] [file3]

Require all path components to exist

$ realpath -e [path/to/file]

Quiet mode (suppress errors)

$ realpath -q [file]

realpath prints the resolved absolute pathname of files. It expands all symbolic links, resolves references to /./, /../, and removes extra slashes to produce a canonical path.The tool is useful in shell scripts when you need the absolute path of a file regardless of how it was specified (relative path, symlink, etc.). It can also compute relative paths between two locations.realpath is part of GNU coreutils and provides similar functionality to the readlink command with -f flag.

PARAMETERS

-e, --canonicalize-existing

All path components must exist.

-m, --canonicalize-missing

No path component needs to exist.

-L, --logical

Resolve .. before symlinks.

-P, --physical

Resolve symlinks first (default).

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

Don't resolve symlinks.

--relative-to= dir

Print path relative to directory.

--relative-base= dir

Print relative path if below base.

-q, --quiet

Suppress error messages.

-z, --zero

End each output line with NUL.

INSTALL

sudo apt install coreutils

sudo dnf install coreutils

sudo pacman -S coreutils

sudo apk add coreutils

sudo zypper install coreutils

brew install coreutils

nix profile install nixpkgs#coreutils

CAVEATS

Behavior may differ between GNU coreutils and BSD versions. Without -e, path may not exist. Relative path options require careful base directory specification.

HISTORY

realpath as a standalone command became part of GNU coreutils in version 8.15 (released 2012). Prior to this, the realpath() function existed in C libraries, and the readlink command provided similar functionality. The standalone command simplified common shell scripting tasks.