remove — delete a name and possibly the file it refers to
#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 for it 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.
Under libc4 and libc5, remove() was an alias for unlink(2) (and hence would
not remove directories).
Infelicities in the protocol underlying NFS can cause the unexpected disappearance of files which are still being used.
This page is part of release 2.79 of the Linux man-pages project. A
description of the project, and information about reporting
bugs, can be found at
http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.
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This file is derived from unlink.2, which has the following copyright: --snip-- This manpage is Copyright (C) 1992 Drew Eckhardt; 1993 Ian Jackson. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies. Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a permission notice identical to this one. Since the Linux kernel and libraries are constantly changing, this manual page may be incorrect or out-of-date. The author(s) assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein. The author(s) may not have taken the same level of care in the production of this manual, which is licensed free of charge, as they might when working professionally. Formatted or processed versions of this manual, if unaccompanied by the source, must acknowledge the copyright and authors of this work. --snip-- Edited into remove.3 shape by: Graeme W. Wilford (G.Wilfordee.surrey.ac.uk) on 13th July 1994 |