REMOVE(3) manual page
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remove - remove a file or directory
#include
<stdio.h>
int remove(const char *pathname);
remove() deletes a
name from the filesystem. It calls unlink(2)
for files, and rmdir(2)
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 is removed, but processes which have the object open may continue
to use it.
On success, zero is returned. On error, -1 is returned,
and errno is set appropriately.
The errors that occur are those for
unlink(2)
and rmdir(2)
.
The remove()
function is thread-safe.
C89, C99, 4.3BSD, POSIX.1-2001.
Infelicities
in the protocol underlying NFS can cause the unexpected disappearance of
files which are still being used.
rm(1)
, unlink(1)
, link(2)
, mknod(2)
,
open(2)
, rename(2)
, rmdir(2)
, unlink(2)
, mkfifo(3)
, symlink(7)
This
page is part of release 3.78 of the Linux man-pages project. A description
of the project, information about reporting bugs, and the latest version
of this page, can be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.
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