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BSD syscall#57

svc · unix #57

symlink

Creates a symbolic link whose target is an arbitrary string interpreted at lookup time.

Prototype

int symlink(char *path, char *link);

Returns: int

Arguments

NameTypeDirDescription
pathchar-
linkchar-

Version history

XNU tagmacOS#
xnu-1456.1.26macOS 10.6 Snow Leopard57
xnu-1699.24.8macOS 10.7 Lion57
xnu-2050.18.24macOS 10.8 Mountain Lion57
xnu-2422.115.4macOS 10.9 Mavericks57
xnu-2782.40.9macOS 10.10 Yosemite57
xnu-3247.1.106macOS 10.11 El Capitan57
xnu-3789.1.32macOS 10.12 Sierra57
xnu-4570.1.46macOS 10.13 High Sierra57
xnu-4903.221.2macOS 10.14 Mojave57
xnu-6153.11.26macOS 10.15 Catalina57
xnu-7195.50.7.100.1macOS 11.0 Big Sur57
xnu-8019.41.5macOS 12.0 Monterey57
xnu-8792.41.9macOS 13.0 Ventura57
xnu-10002.1.13macOS 14.0 Sonoma57
xnu-11215.1.10macOS 15.0 Sequoia57
xnu-11417.101.15macOS 15.4 Sequoia57
xnu-12377.1.9macOS 26.0 Tahoe57
xnu-10002.41.957
xnu-10002.61.357
xnu-10002.81.557
xnu-10063.101.1557
xnu-10063.121.357
xnu-10063.141.157
xnu-11215.41.357
xnu-11215.61.557
xnu-11215.81.457
xnu-11417.121.657
xnu-11417.140.6957
xnu-12377.101.1557
xnu-12377.41.657
xnu-12377.61.1257
xnu-12377.81.457
xnu-1486.2.1157
xnu-1504.15.357
xnu-1504.3.1257
xnu-1504.7.457
xnu-1504.9.1757
xnu-1504.9.2657
xnu-1504.9.3757
xnu-1699.22.7357
xnu-1699.22.8157
xnu-1699.24.2357
xnu-1699.26.857
xnu-1699.32.757
xnu-2050.22.1357
xnu-2050.24.1557
xnu-2050.48.1157
xnu-2050.7.957
xnu-2050.9.257
xnu-2422.1.7257
xnu-2422.100.1357
xnu-2422.110.1757
xnu-2422.90.2057
xnu-2782.1.9757
xnu-2782.10.7257
xnu-2782.20.4857
xnu-2782.30.557
xnu-3247.10.1157
xnu-3248.20.5557
xnu-3248.30.457
xnu-3248.40.18457
xnu-3248.50.2157
xnu-3248.60.1057
xnu-3789.21.457
xnu-3789.31.257
xnu-3789.41.357
xnu-3789.51.257
xnu-3789.60.2457
xnu-3789.70.1657
xnu-4570.20.6257
xnu-4570.31.357
xnu-4570.41.257
xnu-4570.51.157
xnu-4570.61.157
xnu-4570.71.257
xnu-4903.231.457
xnu-4903.241.157
xnu-4903.270.4757
xnu-6153.101.657
xnu-6153.121.157
xnu-6153.141.157
xnu-6153.41.357
xnu-6153.61.157
xnu-6153.81.557
xnu-7195.101.157
xnu-7195.121.357
xnu-7195.141.257
xnu-7195.60.7557
xnu-7195.81.357
xnu-8019.61.557
xnu-8019.80.2457
xnu-8020.101.457
xnu-8020.121.357
xnu-8020.140.4157
xnu-8792.61.257
xnu-8792.81.257
xnu-8796.101.557
xnu-8796.121.257
xnu-8796.141.357

Notes

The target string is stored verbatim and is not validated at creation. Sandboxed processes may have symlink creation blocked by the sandbox profile even when the underlying filesystem would allow it.

Detection

ES emits ES_EVENT_TYPE_NOTIFY_CREATE for the new symlink vnode and may emit ES_EVENT_TYPE_NOTIFY_LOOKUP later when the link is dereferenced.

Related APIs

symlinkatreadlinklinkunlink