RMDIR(3P)						     POSIX Programmer's Manual							 RMDIR(3P)

PROLOG

       This  manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual.  The Linux implementation of this interface may differ (consult the correspond-
       ing Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior), or the interface may not be implemented on Linux.

NAME

       rmdir - remove a directory

SYNOPSIS

       #include <unistd.h>

       int rmdir(const char *path);

DESCRIPTION

       The rmdir() function shall remove a directory whose name is given by path. The directory shall be removed only if it is an empty directory.

       If the directory is the root directory or the current working directory of any process, it is unspecified whether the function succeeds, or
       whether it shall fail and set errno to [EBUSY].

       If path names a symbolic link, then rmdir() shall fail and set errno to [ENOTDIR].

       If the path argument refers to a path whose final component is either dot or dot-dot, rmdir() shall fail.

       If  the	directory's link count becomes 0 and no process has the directory open, the space occupied by the directory shall be freed and the
       directory shall no longer be accessible. If one or more processes have the directory open when the last link is removed, the dot  and  dot-
       dot  entries,  if  present,  shall  be removed before rmdir() returns and no new entries may be created in the directory, but the directory
       shall not be removed until all references to the directory are closed.

       If the directory is not an empty directory, rmdir() shall fail and set errno to [EEXIST] or [ENOTEMPTY].

       Upon successful completion, the rmdir() function shall mark for update the st_ctime and st_mtime fields of the parent directory.

RETURN VALUE

       Upon successful completion, the function rmdir() shall return 0. Otherwise, -1 shall be returned, and errno set to indicate the	error.	If
       -1 is returned, the named directory shall not be changed.

ERRORS

       The rmdir() function shall fail if:

       EACCES Search  permission  is denied on a component of the path prefix, or write permission is denied on the parent directory of the direc-
	      tory to be removed.

       EBUSY  The directory to be removed is currently in use by the system or some process and the implementation considers this to be an error.

       EEXIST or ENOTEMPTY
	      The path argument names a directory that is not an empty directory, or there are hard links to the directory other  than	dot  or  a
	      single entry in dot-dot.

       EINVAL The path argument contains a last component that is dot.

       EIO    A physical I/O error has occurred.

       ELOOP  A loop exists in symbolic links encountered during resolution of the path argument.

       ENAMETOOLONG
	      The length of the path argument exceeds {PATH_MAX} or a pathname component is longer than {NAME_MAX}.

       ENOENT A component of path does not name an existing file, or the path argument names a nonexistent directory or points to an empty string.

       ENOTDIR
	      A component of path is not a directory.

       EPERM or EACCES

	      The  S_ISVTX  flag is set on the parent directory of the directory to be removed and the caller is not the owner of the directory to
	      be removed, nor is the caller the owner of the parent directory, nor does the caller have the appropriate privileges.

       EROFS  The directory entry to be removed resides on a read-only file system.

       The rmdir() function may fail if:

       ELOOP  More than {SYMLOOP_MAX} symbolic links were encountered during resolution of the path argument.

       ENAMETOOLONG
	      As a result of encountering a symbolic link in resolution of the path argument,  the  length  of	the  substituted  pathname  string
	      exceeded {PATH_MAX}.

       The following sections are informative.

EXAMPLES

   Removing a Directory
       The following example shows how to remove a directory named /home/cnd/mod1.

	      #include <unistd.h>

	      int status;
	      ...
	      status = rmdir("/home/cnd/mod1");

APPLICATION USAGE

       None.

RATIONALE

       The rmdir() and rename() functions originated in 4.2 BSD, and they used [ENOTEMPTY] for the condition when the directory to be removed does
       not exist or new already exists. When the 1984 /usr/group standard was published, it contained [EEXIST] instead.  When these functions were
       adopted	into  System V, the 1984 /usr/group standard was used as a reference. Therefore, several existing applications and implementations
       support/use both forms, and no agreement could be reached on either value. All implementations are required to  supply  both  [EEXIST]  and
       [ENOTEMPTY] in <errno.h> with distinct values, so that applications can use both values in C-language case statements.

       The  meaning  of  deleting  pathname /dot is unclear, because the name of the file (directory) in the parent directory to be removed is not
       clear, particularly in the presence of multiple links to a directory.

       The POSIX.1-1990 standard was silent with regard to the behavior of rmdir() when there are multiple  hard  links  to  the  directory  being
       removed. The requirement to set errno to [EEXIST] or [ENOTEMPTY] clarifies the behavior in this case.

       If the process' current working directory is being removed, that should be an allowed error.

       Virtually  all existing implementations detect [ENOTEMPTY] or the case of dot-dot. The text in Error Numbers about returning any one of the
       possible errors permits that behavior to continue. The [ELOOP] error may be returned if more than {SYMLOOP_MAX} symbolic links are  encoun-
       tered during resolution of the path argument.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

       None.

SEE ALSO

       Error Numbers, mkdir(), remove(), unlink(), the Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, <unistd.h>

COPYRIGHT

       Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for Information Technol-
       ogy -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2003 by the Institute of
       Electrical  and	Electronics  Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. In the event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE
       and The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard is the referee document. The original Standard can  be  obtained
       online at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .

IEEE
/The Open Group						       2003								 RMDIR(3P)