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Linuxers posted a tutorial about how to use the Readlink command to find the canonical filename of a symbolic link



Sometimes you may encounter a chain of files linked together using symbolic links. Readlink is a tool that can follow the chain and help you find out what is at the other end of it, the absolute file. Lets take an example of the Debian Alternate system. The file /usr/bin/editor is symlinked to /etc/alternatives/editor which in turn is linked to the actual editor binary - /bin/nano.
  How to - Use the Readlink command to find the canonical filename of a symbolic link