unlink(2)unlink(2)NAMEunlink - remove directory entry
C SYNOPSIS
#include <unistd.h>
int unlink(const char *path);
DESCRIPTIONunlink removes the directory entry named by the path name pointed to by
path. and decrements the link count of the file referenced by the
directory entry. When all links to a file have been removed and no
process has the file open, the space occupied by the file is freed and
the file ceases to exist. If one or more processes have the file open
when the last link is removed, space occupied by the file is not released
until all references to the file have been closed. If path is a symbolic
link, the symbolic link is removed. Applications should use rmdir(2) to
remove directories.
Upon successful completion unlink marks for update the st_ctime and
st_mtime fields of the parent directory. Also, if the file's link count
is not zero, the st_ctime field of the file is marked for update.
The named file is unlinked unless one or more of the following are true:
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 and the process
does not have the super-user privilege.
EACCES The parent directory has the sticky bit set and the
file is not writable by the user; the user does not
own the parent directory and the user does not own
the file.
EACCES Write permission is denied on the file named by path.
EBUSY The entry to be unlinked is the mount point for a
mounted file system.
EFAULT path points outside the process's allocated address
space.
EINTR A signal was caught during the unlink system call.
ELOOP Too many symbolic links were encountered in
translating path.
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unlink(2)unlink(2)
ENAMETOOLONG The length of the path argument exceeds {PATH_MAX},
or the length of a path component exceeds {NAME_MAX}
while _POSIX_NO_TRUNC is in effect.
ENOENT The named file does not exist or is a null pathname.
The user is not a super-user.
ENOTDIR A component of the path prefix is not a directory.
EPERM The named file is a directory.
EROFS The directory entry to be unlinked is part of a
read-only file system.
SEE ALSOrm(1), close(2), link(2), open(2), rename(2), rmdir(2).
DIAGNOSTICS
Upon successful completion, a value of 0 is returned. Otherwise, a value
of -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the error.
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