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v2r
Asked: 2014-07-24 08:09:22 +0800 CST

Finding full path of a symlink'ed file (more quickly)?

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enter image description here

Under Properties dialog window: Link target: the path of the original file is always shortened, due to a programed restriction of characters space, even after resizing the window, and therefore of not much use.

When the Link target path is copied and pasted to a terminal window, it looks like this:

../../lib/firefox/icons/mozicon128.png

which is a small improvement, since now the original file name is fully know and locate mozicon128.png will provide the correct path, which is:

/usr/lib/firefox/icons/mozicon128.png

Q1: What other options are there to find the path more quickly, without using the suggested two steps (maybe a right-click menu integration that copies the path to clipboard would be great)?!

Q2: ../../ refers to / (see screenshot below), but why, instead of being more accurate? Is there any build in option, to copy the full path from Properties dialog window (Ubuntu 11.10)?

enter image description here

Path of the symlinked firefox image in this example is:

/usr/share/pixmaps/firefox.png
directory

2 Answers

  1. You can use a nautilus script for this: 

    #!/bin/bash

# Remove line feed at the end of the path
selectedPath="${NAUTILUS_SCRIPT_SELECTED_FILE_PATHS%?}"

# Check if the selected file is a symbolic link
if [ -h "$selectedPath" ]; then
    symlinkPath=$( readlink "$selectedPath" )
else
    zenity --info --text="$( basename "$selectedPath" ) is not a symbolic link"
    exit 0
fi

# Copy the the symbolic link into the clipboard
echo "$symlinkPath" | xclip -selection clipboard

    More about readlink -> http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/hardy/man1/readlink.1.html

    You have to install xclip for this if not already done.

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  2. Best Answer

    I think namei utility is exactly what you want.

    From man namei:

       namei  uses  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.
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