Check if a file is real or a symbolic link

I have some source code for symlinks posted on my blog that will allow you to:

• create symlinks
• check whether a path is a symlink
• retrieve the target of a symlink

It also contains NUnit test cases, that you may wish to extend.

The meaty bit is:

private static SafeFileHandle getFileHandle(string path)
{
    return CreateFile(path, genericReadAccess, shareModeAll, IntPtr.Zero, openExisting,
        fileFlagsForOpenReparsePointAndBackupSemantics, IntPtr.Zero);
}

public static string GetTarget(string path)
{
    SymbolicLinkReparseData reparseDataBuffer;

    using (SafeFileHandle fileHandle = getFileHandle(path))
    {
        if (fileHandle.IsInvalid)
        {
            Marshal.ThrowExceptionForHR(Marshal.GetHRForLastWin32Error());
        }

        int outBufferSize = Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(SymbolicLinkReparseData));
        IntPtr outBuffer = IntPtr.Zero;
        try
        {
            outBuffer = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(outBufferSize);
            int bytesReturned;
            bool success = DeviceIoControl(
                fileHandle.DangerousGetHandle(), ioctlCommandGetReparsePoint, IntPtr.Zero, 0,
                outBuffer, outBufferSize, out bytesReturned, IntPtr.Zero);

            fileHandle.Close();

            if (!success)
            {
                if (((uint)Marshal.GetHRForLastWin32Error()) == pathNotAReparsePointError)
                {
                    return null;
                }
                Marshal.ThrowExceptionForHR(Marshal.GetHRForLastWin32Error());
            }

            reparseDataBuffer = (SymbolicLinkReparseData)Marshal.PtrToStructure(
                outBuffer, typeof(SymbolicLinkReparseData));
        }
        finally
        {
            Marshal.FreeHGlobal(outBuffer);
        }
    }
    if (reparseDataBuffer.ReparseTag != symLinkTag)
    {
        return null;
    }

    string target = Encoding.Unicode.GetString(reparseDataBuffer.PathBuffer,
        reparseDataBuffer.PrintNameOffset, reparseDataBuffer.PrintNameLength);

    return target;
}

That is:

• Open the file with CreateFile()
• Call DeviceIoControl() to get the reparse point data (NOTE: it could be a junction point!)
• Check out the returned data structure to inspect. The reparse tag will tell you if it is a junction point or symbolic link. This may be all you want to do.

It proves the above answers are not reliable. Finally I got the right solution from MSDN:

To determine if a specified directory is a mounted folder, first call the GetFileAttributes function and inspect the FILE_ATTRIBUTE_REPARSE_POINT flag in the return value to see if the directory has an associated reparse point. If it does, use the FindFirstFile and FindNextFile functions to obtain the reparse tag in the dwReserved0 member of the WIN32_FIND_DATA structure. To determine if the reparse point is a mounted folder (and not some other form of reparse point), test whether the tag value equals the value IO_REPARSE_TAG_MOUNT_POINT. For more information, see Reparse Points.

According to this answer to Stack Overflow question Find out whether a file is a symbolic link in PowerShell, getting the System.IO.FileAttributes for the file (via File.GetAttributes), and testing for the ReparsePoint bit, works. If the bit is set, it is a symlink or a junction point. If not, it is a regular file (or hardlink).

The library MonoPosix provides API to check if a file is a symbolic link:

public bool IsSymlink(string filePath)
   => UnixFileSystemInfo.GetFileSystemEntry(filePath).IsSymbolicLink;

I know I am late to the party but found this discussion when researching same question

I found the below worked for me so thought I would post in case of use to anyone else

It works like this:-

var provider = ReparsePointFactory.Provider;

var link = provider.GetLink(@"c:\program files (x86)\common files\microsoft shared\vgx\vgx.dll");

MsgBox("Link Type: " + link.Type.ToString + " Link Target: " + link.Target + " Link Attributes: " + link.Attributes.ToString);

https://github.com/NCodeGroup/NCode.ReparsePoints https://www.nuget.org/packages/NCode.ReparsePoints/