NAME¶
remove - delete a name and possibly the file it refers to
SYNOPSIS¶
#include <stdio.h>
int remove(const char *pathname);
DESCRIPTION¶
remove deletes a name from the filesystem. It calls
unlink for
files, and
rmdir for directories.
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.
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.
If the name referred to a symbolic link the link is removed.
If the name referred to a socket, fifo or device the name for it is removed but
processes which have the object open may continue to use it.
RETURN VALUE¶
On success, zero is returned. On error, -1 is returned, and
errno is set
appropriately.
ERRORS¶
- EFAULT
- pathname points outside your accessible address
space.
- EACCES
- Write access to the directory containing pathname is
not allowed for the process's effective uid, or one of the directories in
pathname did not allow search (execute) permission.
- EPERM
- The directory containing pathname has the sticky-bit
(S_ISVTX) set and the process's effective uid is neither the uid of
the file to be deleted nor that of the directory containing it.
- ENAMETOOLONG
- pathname was too long.
- ENOENT
- A directory component in pathname does not exist or
is a dangling symbolic link.
- ENOTDIR
- A component used as a directory in pathname is not,
in fact, a directory.
- ENOMEM
- Insufficient kernel memory was available.
- EROFS
- pathname refers to a file on a read-only
filesystem.
ANSI C, SVID, AT&T, POSIX, X/OPEN, BSD 4.3
BUGS¶
Infelicities in the protocol underlying NFS can cause the unexpected
disappearance of files which are still being used.
NOTE¶
Under libc4 and libc5,
remove was an alias for unlink (and hence would
not remove directories).
SEE ALSO¶
unlink(2),
rename(2),
open(2),
rmdir(2),
mknod(2),
mkfifo(3),
link(2),
rm(1),
unlink(8).