namei — follow a pathname until a terminal point is found
namei [−mx] pathname [ pathname... ]
Namei uses its arguments as pathnames to any type of Unix file (symlinks, files, directories, and so forth). Namei then follows each pathname until a terminal point is found (a file, directory, char device, etc). If it finds a symbolic link, we show the link, and start following it, indenting the output to show the context.
This program is useful for finding a "too many levels of symbolic links" problems.
For each line output, namei outputs a the following characters to identify the file types found:
f: = the pathname we are currently trying to resolve
d = directory
l = symbolic link (both the link and it's contents are output)
s = socket
b = block device
c = character device
- = 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.
−xShow mount point directories with a 'D', rather than a 'd'.
−mShow the mode bits of each file type in the style of ls(1), for example 'rwxr-xr-x'.