unlink()

delete a file

Synopsis:

#include <unistd.h>
int unlink( const char *path );

Description:

The unlink() function deletes the file whose name is the string pointed to by path. This function is equivalent to the remove() function.

Returns:

The unlink() function returns zero if the operation succeeds, nonzero if it fails, in which case errno is set.

Errors:

EACCES

Search permission is denied for a component of path, or write permission is denied on the directory containing the link to be removed.

EBUSY

The directory named by the path argument cannot be unlinked because it is being used by the system or another process, and the implementation considers this to be an error.

ENAMETOOLONG

The argument path exceeds PATH_MAX in length, or a pathname component is longer than NAME_MAX.

ENOENT

The named file doesn't exist, or path is an empty string.

ENOTDIR

A component of path isn't a directory.

EPERM

The file named by path is a directory, and either the calling process doesn't have the appropriate privileges, or the implementation prohibits using unlink() on directories.

EROFS

The directory entry to be unlinked resides on a read-only file system.

Examples:

#include <unistd.h>

void main()
  {
    unlink( "vm.tmp" );
  }

Classification:

POSIX 1003.1

See also:

chdir(), chmod(), close(), errno, getcwd(), link(), mkdir(), open(), remove(), rename(), rmdir(), stat()