UNLINK(2)

UNLINK(2) | NetBSD System Calls Manual | UNLINK(2)

# NAME

unlink — remove directory entry

# LIBRARY

Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

# SYNOPSIS

#include <unistd.h>

int
unlink(const char *path);

# DESCRIPTION

The unlink() function removes the link named by path from its directory and decrements the link count of the file which was referenced by the link. If that decrement reduces the link count of the file to zero, and no process has the file open, then all resources associated with the file are reclaimed. If one or more process have the file open when the last link is removed, the link is removed, but the removal of the file is delayed until all references to it have been closed.

# 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.

# ERRORS

The unlink() succeeds unless:

[EACCES]
  Search permission is denied for a component of the path prefix, or 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.
[EFAULT]
  path points outside the process's allocated address space.
[EIO]
  An I/O error occurred while deleting the directory entry or deallocating the inode.
[ELOOP]
  Too many symbolic links were encountered in translating the pathname.
[ENAMETOOLONG]
  A component of a pathname exceeded {NAME_MAX} characters, or an entire path name exceeded {PATH_MAX} characters.
[ENOENT]
  The named file does not exist.
[ENOTDIR]
  A component of the path prefix is not a directory.
[EPERM]
  The named file is a directory and the effective user ID of the process is not the super-user, the file system containing the file does not permit the use of unlink() on a directory, or 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.
[EROFS]
  The named file resides on a read-only file system.

# SEE ALSO

close(2), link(2), rmdir(2), symlink(7)

# STANDARDS

The unlink() function conforms to IEEE Std 1003.1-1990 (“POSIX.1”).

# HISTORY

An unlink() function call appeared in Version 2 AT&T UNIX.

April 3, 2010 | NetBSD 5.99