php-doc-en/reference/filesystem/functions/realpath.xml

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  <refentry id="function.realpath">
   <refnamediv>
    <refname>realpath</refname>
    <refpurpose>Returns canonicalized absolute pathname</refpurpose>
   </refnamediv>
   <refsect1>
    <title>Description</title>
     <methodsynopsis>
      <type>string</type><methodname>realpath</methodname>
      <methodparam><type>string</type><parameter>path</parameter></methodparam>
     </methodsynopsis>
    <para>
     <function>realpath</function> expands all symbolic links and
     resolves references to '/./', '/../' and extra '/' characters in
     the input <parameter>path</parameter> and return the canonicalized
     absolute pathname.  The resulting path will have no symbolic link,
     '/./' or '/../' components.
    </para>
    <para>
     <function>realpath</function> returns &false; on failure, e.g. if
     the file does not exist. On BSD systems <function>realpath</function>
     doesn't fail if only the last <parameter>path</parameter> component
     doesn't exist, while other systems will return &false;.
    </para>
    <para>
     <example>
      <title><function>realpath</function> example</title>
      <programlisting role="php">
<![CDATA[
<?php
$real_path = realpath("../../index.php");
?>
]]>
      </programlisting>
     </example>
    </para>
    <para>
     See also <function>basename</function>, 
     <function>dirname</function>, and 
     <function>pathinfo</function>.
    </para>
   </refsect1>
  </refentry>

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