File operations on symbolic links (The GNU Fortran Compiler)

### 4.8 File operations on symbolic links ¶

This section documents the behavior of GNU Fortran for file operations on symbolic links, on systems that support them.

- Results of `INQUIRE` statements of the “inquire by file” form relate to the target of the symbolic link. For example, `INQUIRE(FILE="foo",EXIST=ex)` sets ex to .true. if foo is a symbolic link pointing to an existing file, and .false. if foo points to an non-existing file (“dangling” symbolic link).
- Using the `OPEN` statement with a `STATUS="NEW"` specifier on a symbolic link results in an error condition, whether the symbolic link points to an existing target or is dangling.
- If a symbolic link was connected, using the `CLOSE` statement with a `STATUS="DELETE"` specifier causes the symbolic link itself to be deleted, not its target.