unlink(2) [bsd man page]
UNLINK(2) System Calls Manual UNLINK(2) NAME
unlink - remove directory entry SYNOPSIS
unlink(path) char *path; DESCRIPTION
Unlink removes the entry for the file path from its directory. If this entry was the last link to the file, and no process has the file open, then all resources associated with the file are reclaimed. If, however, the file was open in any process, the actual resource recla- mation is delayed until it is closed, even though the directory entry has disappeared. RETURN VALUE
Upon successful completion, a value of 0 is returned. Otherwise, a value of -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the error. ERRORS
The unlink succeeds unless: [ENOTDIR] A component of the path prefix is not a directory. [EINVAL] The pathname contains a character with the high-order bit set. [ENAMETOOLONG] A component of a pathname exceeded 255 characters, or an entire path name exceeded 1023 characters. [ENOENT] The named file does not exist. [EACCES] Search permission is denied for a component of the path prefix. [EACCES] Write permission is denied on the directory containing the link to be removed. [ELOOP] Too many symbolic links were encountered in translating the pathname. [EPERM] The named file is a directory and the effective user ID of the process is not the super-user. [EPERM] The directory containing the file is marked sticky, and neither the containing directory nor the file to be removed are owned by the effective user ID. [EBUSY] The entry to be unlinked is the mount point for a mounted file system. [EIO] An I/O error occurred while deleting the directory entry or deallocating the inode. [EROFS] The named file resides on a read-only file system. [EFAULT] Path points outside the process's allocated address space. SEE ALSO
close(2), link(2), rmdir(2) 4th Berkeley Distribution May 22, 1985 UNLINK(2)
Check Out this Related Man Page
unlink(2) System Calls Manual unlink(2) Name unlink - remove directory entry Syntax unlink(path) char *path; Description The system call removes the entry for the file path from its directory. If this entry was the last link to the file, and no process has the file open, then all resources associated with the file are reclaimed. If, however, the file was open in any process, the actual resource reclamation is delayed until it is closed, even though the directory entry has disappeared. Return Values Upon successful completion, a value of 0 is returned. Otherwise, a value of -1 is returned, and errno is set to indicate the error. Diagnostics The system call succeeds unless: [ENOTDIR] A component of the path prefix is not a directory. [ENOENT] The named file does not exist or path points to an empty string and the environment defined is POSIX or SYSTEM_FIVE. [EACCES] Search permission is denied for a component of the path prefix. [EACCES] Write permission is denied on the directory containing the link to be removed. [EBUSY] The entry to be unlinked is the mount point for a mounted file system. [EROFS] The named file resides on a read-only file system. [EFAULT] The path points outside the process's allocated address space. [ELOOP] Too many symbolic links were encountered in translating the pathname. [ENAMETOOLONG] A component of a pathname exceeded 255 characters, or an entire pathname exceeded 1023 characters. [EPERM] The named file is a directory and the effective user ID of the process is not the superuser. [EPERM] The named file is a directory and the environment is defined is POSIX. [EPERM] The directory containing the file is marked sticky, and neither the containing directory nor the file to be removed are owned by the effective user ID. [EIO] An I/O error occurred while deleting the directory entry or deallocating the inode. [ETIMEDOUT] A connect request or remote file operation failed, because the connected party did not properly respond after a period of time that is dependent on the communications protocol. [ETXTBSY] The named file is the last link to a shared text executable and the environment defined is POSIX or SYSTEM_FIVE. Environment Differs from the System V definition in that ELOOP is a possible error condition. See Also close(2), link(2), rmdir(2) unlink(2)