tldr/pages/linux/namei.md

namei

Follows a pathname (which can be a symbolic link) until a terminal point is found (a file/directory/char device etc). This program is useful for finding "too many levels of symbolic links" problems.

• Resolve the pathnames specified as the argument parameters:

namei {{path/to/a}} {{path/to/b}} {{path/to/c}}

• Display the results in a long-listing format:

namei --long {{path/to/a}} {{path/to/b}} {{path/to/c}}

• Show the mode bits of each file type in the style of ls:

namei --modes {{path/to/a}} {{path/to/b}} {{path/to/c}}

• Show owner and group name of each file:

namei --owners {{path/to/a}} {{path/to/b}} {{path/to/c}}

• Don't follow symlinks while resolving:

namei --nosymlinks {{path/to/a}} {{path/to/b}} {{path/to/c}}