remove - delete a name and possibly the file it refers to


SYNOPSIS

       #include <stdio.h>

       int remove(const char *pathname);


DESCRIPTION

       remove  deletes  a  name  from  the  filesystem.  It calls
       unlink for files, and rmdir for directories.

       If the removed name was the last link to  a  file  and  no
       processes  have  the file open the file is deleted and the
       space it was using is made available for reuse.

       If the name was the last link to a file but any  processes
       still have the file open the file will remain in existence
       until the last file descriptor referring to it is  closed.

       If  the  name  referred  to  a  symbolic  link the link is
       removed.

       If the name referred to a socket, fifo or device the  name
       for it is removed but processes which have the object open
       may continue to use it.


RETURN VALUE

       On success, zero is returned.  On error, -1  is  returned,
       and errno is set appropriately.


ERRORS

       EFAULT pathname  points  outside  your  accessible address
              space.

       EACCES Write access to the directory  containing  pathname
              is  not allowed for the process's effective uid, or
              one of the directories in pathname  did  not  allow
              search (execute) permission.

       EPERM  The  directory  containing pathname has the sticky-
              bit (S_ISVTX) set and the process's  effective  uid
              is  neither  the  uid of the file to be deleted nor
              that of the directory containing it.

       ENAMETOOLONG
              pathname was too long.

       ENOENT A directory component in pathname does not exist or
              is a dangling symbolic link.

       ENOTDIR
              A component used as a directory in pathname is not,
              in fact, a directory.


       EROFS  pathname refers to a file on a  read-only  filesys­
              tem.


CONFORMING TO

       ANSI C, SVID, AT&T, POSIX, X/OPEN, BSD 4.3


BUGS

       Infelicities  in the protocol underlying NFS can cause the
       unexpected disappearance of files which  are  still  being
       used.


NOTE

       Under libc4 and libc5, remove was an alias for unlink (and
       hence would not remove directories).


SEE ALSO

       unlink(2),   rename(2),   open(2),   rmdir(2),   mknod(2),
       mkfifo(3), link(2), rm(1), unlink(8)


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