namei — follow a pathname until a terminal point is found
namei [options]
pathname...
namei interprets its arguments as pathnames to any type of Unix file (symlinks, files, directories, and so forth). namei then follows each pathname until an endpoint is found (a file, a directory, a device node, etc). If it finds a symbolic link, it shows the link, and starts following it, indenting the output to show the context.
This program is useful for finding "too many levels of symbolic links" problems.
For each line of output, namei uses the following characters to identify the file type found:
f: = the pathname currently being resolved
d = directory
l = symbolic link (both the link and its contents are output)
s = socket
b = block device
c = character device
p = FIFO (named pipe)
- = regular file
? = an error of some kind
namei prints an informative message when the maximum number of symbolic links this system can have has been exceeded.
−l,
−−longUse the long listing format (same as −m −o −v).
−m,
−−modesShow the mode bits of each file type in the style of ls(1), for example 'rwxr-xr-x'.
−n,
−−nosymlinksDon't follow symlinks.
−o,
−−ownersShow owner and group name of each file.
−v,
−−verticalVertically align the modes and owners.
−x,
−−mountpointsShow mountpoint directories with a 'D' rather than a 'd'.
−V,
−−versionDisplay version information and exit.
−h,
−−helpDisplay help text and exit.