Linux in a Nutshell, 6th Edition

Name

namei

Synopsis

namei [options] pathname [pathname . . .]

Follow a pathname until a terminal point is found (e.g., a file, directory, char device, etc.). If namei finds a symbolic link, it shows the link and starts following it, indenting the output to show the context. namei prints an informative message when the maximum number of symbolic links has been exceeded, making it helpful for resolving errors resulting from too many levels of links.

Options

-m

Show mode bits of each file type in the style of ls (e.g., “rwxr-xr-x”).

-x

Show mountpoint directories with a D rather than a d.

File-type characters

For each line of output, namei prints the following characters to identify the file types found:

-

A regular file.

?

An error of some kind.

b

A block device.

c

A character device.

d

A directory.

f:

The pathname namei is currently trying to resolve.

l

A symbolic link (both the link and its contents are output).

p

A FIFO (named pipe).

s

A socket.