diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 6c4b61d7..2d8102a1 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 - bat mishighlights Users that start with digits in SSH config, see #984
 - `--map-syntax` doesn't work with names provided through `--file-name` (@eth-p)
 - Fix syntax detection for files called 'rails', see #1008
+- Fix potential errors with syntax detection for symlinked files, see #1001
 
 ## Other
 
diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 515aa7c0..0f7f0188 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -107,6 +107,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "globset 0.4.5 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "lazy_static 1.4.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "liquid 0.20.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
+ "path-absolutize 1.2.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "semver 0.9.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "serde 1.0.110 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "serde_yaml 0.8.12 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
@@ -732,6 +733,23 @@ name = "opaque-debug"
 version = "0.2.3"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "path-absolutize"
+version = "1.2.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+dependencies = [
+ "path-dedot 1.2.2 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
+ "slash-formatter 2.2.6 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "path-dedot"
+version = "1.2.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+dependencies = [
+ "lazy_static 1.4.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "percent-encoding"
 version = "1.0.1"
@@ -1034,6 +1052,11 @@ name = "shell-words"
 version = "1.0.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "slash-formatter"
+version = "2.2.6"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "smallvec"
 version = "1.3.0"
@@ -1390,6 +1413,8 @@ dependencies = [
 "checksum onig 6.0.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "bd91ccd8a02fce2f7e8a86655aec67bc6c171e6f8e704118a0e8c4b866a05a8a"
 "checksum onig_sys 69.5.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "3814583fad89f3c60ae0701d80e87e1fd3028741723deda72d0d4a0ecf0cb0db"
 "checksum opaque-debug 0.2.3 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "2839e79665f131bdb5782e51f2c6c9599c133c6098982a54c794358bf432529c"
+"checksum path-absolutize 1.2.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "f75bd79ae25b4cd5c4d4b6d11c11863c2ebee5d1eed4f6d687fcdd232df3a8dc"
+"checksum path-dedot 1.2.2 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "4cf32f6a3b529384739d9c11c230ad760aeb553061e7834f58de63a7c507f24f"
 "checksum percent-encoding 1.0.1 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "31010dd2e1ac33d5b46a5b413495239882813e0369f8ed8a5e266f173602f831"
 "checksum percent-encoding 2.1.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "d4fd5641d01c8f18a23da7b6fe29298ff4b55afcccdf78973b24cf3175fee32e"
 "checksum pest 2.1.3 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "10f4872ae94d7b90ae48754df22fd42ad52ce740b8f370b03da4835417403e53"
@@ -1427,6 +1452,7 @@ dependencies = [
 "checksum serde_yaml 0.8.12 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "16c7a592a1ec97c9c1c68d75b6e537dcbf60c7618e038e7841e00af1d9ccf0c4"
 "checksum sha-1 0.8.2 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "f7d94d0bede923b3cea61f3f1ff57ff8cdfd77b400fb8f9998949e0cf04163df"
 "checksum shell-words 1.0.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "b6fa3938c99da4914afedd13bf3d79bcb6c277d1b2c398d23257a304d9e1b074"
+"checksum slash-formatter 2.2.6 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "2f7fb98e76e2022054673f3ebc43a4e12890ec6272530629df6237cafbb70569"
 "checksum smallvec 1.3.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "05720e22615919e4734f6a99ceae50d00226c3c5aca406e102ebc33298214e0a"
 "checksum strsim 0.8.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "8ea5119cdb4c55b55d432abb513a0429384878c15dde60cc77b1c99de1a95a6a"
 "checksum syn 1.0.17 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "0df0eb663f387145cab623dea85b09c2c5b4b0aef44e945d928e682fce71bb03"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index bc7d07b1..a6c730b7 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ globset = "0.4"
 serde = { version = "1.0", features = ["derive"] }
 serde_yaml = "0.8"
 semver = "0.9"
+path-absolutize = "1.2.0"
 
 [dependencies.git2]
 version = "0.13"
diff --git a/src/assets.rs b/src/assets.rs
index d265c4c4..0de506f3 100644
--- a/src/assets.rs
+++ b/src/assets.rs
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ use syntect::dumps::{dump_to_file, from_binary, from_reader};
 use syntect::highlighting::{Theme, ThemeSet};
 use syntect::parsing::{SyntaxReference, SyntaxSet, SyntaxSetBuilder};
 
+use path_absolutize::Absolutize;
+
 use crate::assets_metadata::AssetsMetadata;
 use crate::error::*;
 use crate::input::{InputReader, OpenedInput, OpenedInputKind};
@@ -218,7 +220,7 @@ impl HighlightingAssets {
             if let Some(path_str) = path_str {
                 // If a path was provided, we try and detect the syntax based on extension mappings.
                 let path = Path::new(path_str);
-                let absolute_path = path.canonicalize().ok().unwrap_or_else(|| path.to_owned());
+                let absolute_path = path.absolutize().ok().unwrap_or_else(|| path.to_owned());
 
                 match mapping.get_syntax_for(absolute_path) {
                     Some(MappingTarget::MapToUnknown) => line_syntax.ok_or_else(|| {
@@ -281,7 +283,7 @@ mod tests {
     struct SyntaxDetectionTest<'a> {
         assets: HighlightingAssets,
         pub syntax_mapping: SyntaxMapping<'a>,
-        temp_dir: TempDir,
+        pub temp_dir: TempDir,
     }
 
     impl<'a> SyntaxDetectionTest<'a> {
@@ -482,14 +484,32 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
+    #[cfg(unix)]
     #[test]
-    fn issue_1008() {
+    fn syntax_detection_for_symlinked_file() {
+        use std::os::unix::fs::symlink;
+
         let test = SyntaxDetectionTest::new();
+        let file_path = test.temp_dir.path().join("my_ssh_config_filename");
+        {
+            File::create(&file_path).unwrap();
+        }
+        let file_path_symlink = test.temp_dir.path().join(".ssh").join("config");
+
+        std::fs::create_dir(test.temp_dir.path().join(".ssh"))
+            .expect("creation of directory succeeds");
+        symlink(&file_path, &file_path_symlink).expect("creation of symbolic link succeeds");
+
+        let input = Input::ordinary_file(file_path_symlink.as_os_str());
+        let dummy_stdin: &[u8] = &[];
+        let mut opened_input = input.open(dummy_stdin).unwrap();
 
         assert_eq!(
-            test.syntax_for_file_with_content("bin/rails", "#!/usr/bin/env ruby"),
-            "Ruby"
+            test.assets
+                .get_syntax(None, &mut opened_input, &test.syntax_mapping)
+                .unwrap_or_else(|_| test.assets.syntax_set.find_syntax_plain_text())
+                .name,
+            "SSH Config"
         );
-        assert_eq!(test.syntax_for_file("example.rails"), "HTML (Rails)");
     }
 }