namei

Resolve pathnames following symbolic links

$ namei [path/to/a] [path/to/b]

$ namei -l [path/to/file]

$ namei -m [path/to/file]

$ namei -o [path/to/file]

$ namei -n [path/to/file]

$ namei -lmo [path/to/file]

namei [-l] [-m] [-o] [-n] [-x] [-v] pathname...

namei follows a pathname until a terminal point is found (file, directory, device, etc.), displaying each component of the path. It is particularly useful for diagnosing "too many levels of symbolic links" errors.
The output shows each path component with its type indicator: f (file), d (directory), l (symbolic link), c (character device), b (block device), s (socket), p (FIFO/pipe).

-l, --long

Use long-listing format showing file type

Show mode bits of each file type in ls style

Show owner and group name of each file

Don't follow symbolic links

Show mountpoint directories with D

Vertical alignment of modes and owners

Display help

Display version

f - Regular file
d - Directory
l - Symbolic link
c - Character device
b - Block device
s - Socket
p - FIFO/named pipe
D - Mountpoint (with -x)

Symbolic link loops will cause errors. The command stops at the first unresolvable component. Permission denied errors occur if any path component is inaccessible.

namei is part of util-linux, the standard Linux utility collection. It provides a diagnostic tool for understanding complex path structures and resolving symlink issues.

ls(1), stat(1), readlink(1)