'\" t
.\" This file is derived from unlink.2, which has the following copyright:
.\"
.\" This manpage is Copyright (C) 1992 Drew Eckhardt;
.\"             and Copyright (C) 1993 Ian Jackson.
.\"
.\" Edited into remove.3 shape by:
.\" Graeme W. Wilford (G.Wilford@ee.surrey.ac.uk) on 13th July 1994
.\"
.\" SPDX-License-Identifier: Linux-man-pages-copyleft
.\"
.TH remove 3 2023-10-31 "Linux man-pages 6.7"
.SH NAME
remove \- remove a file or directory
.SH LIBRARY
Standard C library
.RI ( libc ", " \-lc )
.SH SYNOPSIS
.nf
.B #include <stdio.h>
.P
.BI "int remove(const char *" pathname );
.fi
.SH DESCRIPTION
.BR remove ()
deletes a name from the filesystem.
It calls
.BR unlink (2)
for files, and
.BR rmdir (2)
for directories.
.P
If the removed name was the
last link to a file and no processes have the file open, the file is
deleted and the space it was using is made available for reuse.
.P
If the name was the last link to a file,
but any processes still have the file open,
the file will remain in existence until the last file
descriptor referring to it is closed.
.P
If the name referred to a symbolic link, the link is removed.
.P
If the name referred to a socket, FIFO, or device, the name is removed,
but processes which have the object open may continue to use it.
.SH RETURN VALUE
On success, zero is returned.
On error, \-1 is returned, and
.I errno
is set to indicate the error.
.SH ERRORS
The errors that occur are those for
.BR unlink (2)
and
.BR rmdir (2).
.SH ATTRIBUTES
For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see
.BR attributes (7).
.TS
allbox;
lbx lb lb
l l l.
Interface	Attribute	Value
T{
.na
.nh
.BR remove ()
T}	Thread safety	MT-Safe
.TE
.SH STANDARDS
C11, POSIX.1-2008.
.SH HISTORY
POSIX.1-2001, C89, 4.3BSD.
.\" .SH NOTES
.\" Under libc4 and libc5,
.\" .BR remove ()
.\" was an alias for
.\" .BR unlink (2)
.\" (and hence would not remove directories).
.SH BUGS
Infelicities in the protocol underlying NFS can cause the unexpected
disappearance of files which are still being used.
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR rm (1),
.BR unlink (1),
.BR link (2),
.BR mknod (2),
.BR open (2),
.BR rename (2),
.BR rmdir (2),
.BR unlink (2),
.BR mkfifo (3),
.BR symlink (7)