]>
Commit | Line | Data |
---|---|---|
fea681da MK |
1 | .\" This file is derived from unlink.2, which has the following copyright: |
2 | .\" | |
fea681da | 3 | .\" This manpage is Copyright (C) 1992 Drew Eckhardt; |
ac56b6a8 | 4 | .\" and Copyright (C) 1993 Ian Jackson. |
fea681da | 5 | .\" |
1fcd9102 MK |
6 | .\" Edited into remove.3 shape by: |
7 | .\" Graeme W. Wilford (G.Wilford@ee.surrey.ac.uk) on 13th July 1994 | |
8 | .\" | |
93015253 | 9 | .\" %%%LICENSE_START(VERBATIM) |
fea681da MK |
10 | .\" Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this |
11 | .\" manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are | |
12 | .\" preserved on all copies. | |
13 | .\" | |
14 | .\" Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this | |
15 | .\" manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the | |
16 | .\" entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a | |
17 | .\" permission notice identical to this one. | |
c13182ef | 18 | .\" |
fea681da MK |
19 | .\" Since the Linux kernel and libraries are constantly changing, this |
20 | .\" manual page may be incorrect or out-of-date. The author(s) assume no | |
21 | .\" responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from | |
22 | .\" the use of the information contained herein. The author(s) may not | |
23 | .\" have taken the same level of care in the production of this manual, | |
24 | .\" which is licensed free of charge, as they might when working | |
25 | .\" professionally. | |
c13182ef | 26 | .\" |
fea681da MK |
27 | .\" Formatted or processed versions of this manual, if unaccompanied by |
28 | .\" the source, must acknowledge the copyright and authors of this work. | |
4b72fb64 | 29 | .\" %%%LICENSE_END |
fea681da | 30 | .\" |
4b8c67d9 | 31 | .TH REMOVE 3 2017-09-15 "GNU" "Linux Programmer's Manual" |
fea681da | 32 | .SH NAME |
46c0fadf | 33 | remove \- remove a file or directory |
fea681da MK |
34 | .SH SYNOPSIS |
35 | .B #include <stdio.h> | |
68e4db0a | 36 | .PP |
fea681da MK |
37 | .BI "int remove(const char *" pathname ); |
38 | .SH DESCRIPTION | |
e511ffb6 | 39 | .BR remove () |
9ee4a2b6 | 40 | deletes a name from the filesystem. |
fea681da | 41 | It calls |
fb186734 | 42 | .BR unlink (2) |
fea681da | 43 | for files, and |
fb186734 | 44 | .BR rmdir (2) |
fea681da | 45 | for directories. |
847e0d88 | 46 | .PP |
fea681da | 47 | If the removed name was the |
46c0fadf | 48 | last link to a file and no processes have the file open, the file is |
fea681da | 49 | deleted and the space it was using is made available for reuse. |
847e0d88 | 50 | .PP |
46c0fadf MK |
51 | If the name was the last link to a file, |
52 | but any processes still have the file open, | |
53 | the file will remain in existence until the last file | |
fea681da | 54 | descriptor referring to it is closed. |
847e0d88 | 55 | .PP |
46c0fadf | 56 | If the name referred to a symbolic link, the link is removed. |
847e0d88 | 57 | .PP |
46c0fadf MK |
58 | If the name referred to a socket, FIFO, or device, the name is removed, |
59 | but processes which have the object open may continue to use it. | |
47297adb | 60 | .SH RETURN VALUE |
c13182ef MK |
61 | On success, zero is returned. |
62 | On error, \-1 is returned, and | |
fea681da MK |
63 | .I errno |
64 | is set appropriately. | |
65 | .SH ERRORS | |
66 | The errors that occur are those for | |
67 | .BR unlink (2) | |
68 | and | |
69 | .BR rmdir (2). | |
aaff622e | 70 | .SH ATTRIBUTES |
692646ca PH |
71 | For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see |
72 | .BR attributes (7). | |
73 | .TS | |
74 | allbox; | |
75 | lb lb lb | |
76 | l l l. | |
77 | Interface Attribute Value | |
78 | T{ | |
aaff622e | 79 | .BR remove () |
692646ca PH |
80 | T} Thread safety MT-Safe |
81 | .TE | |
47297adb | 82 | .SH CONFORMING TO |
88d3b8a9 | 83 | POSIX.1-2001, POSIX.1-2008, C89, C99, 4.3BSD. |
f5ccb6a7 MK |
84 | .\" .SH NOTES |
85 | .\" Under libc4 and libc5, | |
86 | .\" .BR remove () | |
87 | .\" was an alias for | |
88 | .\" .BR unlink (2) | |
89 | .\" (and hence would not remove directories). | |
2b2581ee MK |
90 | .SH BUGS |
91 | Infelicities in the protocol underlying NFS can cause the unexpected | |
92 | disappearance of files which are still being used. | |
47297adb | 93 | .SH SEE ALSO |
fea681da | 94 | .BR rm (1), |
49ec013c | 95 | .BR unlink (1), |
fea681da MK |
96 | .BR link (2), |
97 | .BR mknod (2), | |
98 | .BR open (2), | |
99 | .BR rename (2), | |
100 | .BR rmdir (2), | |
101 | .BR unlink (2), | |
a9cfde1d MK |
102 | .BR mkfifo (3), |
103 | .BR symlink (7) |