man3/remove.3

   1 '\" t
   2 .\" This file is derived from unlink.2, which has the following copyright:
   3 .\"
   4 .\" This manpage is Copyright (C) 1992 Drew Eckhardt;
   5 .\"             and Copyright (C) 1993 Ian Jackson.
   6 .\"
   7 .\" Edited into remove.3 shape by:
   8 .\" Graeme W. Wilford (G.Wilford@ee.surrey.ac.uk) on 13th July 1994
   9 .\"
  10 .\" SPDX-License-Identifier: Linux-man-pages-copyleft
  11 .\"
  12 .TH remove 3 (date) "Linux man-pages (unreleased)"
  13 .SH NAME
  14 remove \- remove a file or directory
  15 .SH LIBRARY
  16 Standard C library
  17 .RI ( libc ", " \-lc )
  18 .SH SYNOPSIS
  19 .nf
  20 .B #include <stdio.h>
  21 .P
  22 .BI "int remove(const char *" pathname );
  23 .fi
  24 .SH DESCRIPTION
  25 .BR remove ()
  26 deletes a name from the filesystem.
  27 It calls
  28 .BR unlink (2)
  29 for files, and
  30 .BR rmdir (2)
  31 for directories.
  32 .P
  33 If the removed name was the
  34 last link to a file and no processes have the file open, the file is
  35 deleted and the space it was using is made available for reuse.
  36 .P
  37 If the name was the last link to a file,
  38 but any processes still have the file open,
  39 the file will remain in existence until the last file
  40 descriptor referring to it is closed.
  41 .P
  42 If the name referred to a symbolic link, the link is removed.
  43 .P
  44 If the name referred to a socket, FIFO, or device, the name is removed,
  45 but processes which have the object open may continue to use it.
  46 .SH RETURN VALUE
  47 On success, zero is returned.
  48 On error, \-1 is returned, and
  49 .I errno
  50 is set to indicate the error.
  51 .SH ERRORS
  52 The errors that occur are those for
  53 .BR unlink (2)
  54 and
  55 .BR rmdir (2).
  56 .SH ATTRIBUTES
  57 For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see
  58 .BR attributes (7).
  59 .TS
  60 allbox;
  61 lbx lb lb
  62 l l l.
  63 Interface       Attribute       Value
  64 T{
  65 .na
  66 .nh
  67 .BR remove ()
  68 T}      Thread safety   MT-Safe
  69 .TE
  70 .SH STANDARDS
  71 C11, POSIX.1-2008.
  72 .SH HISTORY
  73 POSIX.1-2001, C89, 4.3BSD.
  74 .\" .SH NOTES
  75 .\" Under libc4 and libc5,
  76 .\" .BR remove ()
  77 .\" was an alias for
  78 .\" .BR unlink (2)
  79 .\" (and hence would not remove directories).
  80 .SH BUGS
  81 Infelicities in the protocol underlying NFS can cause the unexpected
  82 disappearance of files which are still being used.
  83 .SH SEE ALSO
  84 .BR rm (1),
  85 .BR unlink (1),
  86 .BR link (2),
  87 .BR mknod (2),
  88 .BR open (2),
  89 .BR rename (2),
  90 .BR rmdir (2),
  91 .BR unlink (2),
  92 .BR mkfifo (3),
  93 .BR symlink (7)