unlink(2) - Linux man page
Name
unlink - delete a name and possibly the file it refers toSynopsis
#include <unistd.h>int unlink(const char *pathname);
Description
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
- 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 permission. (See also path_resolution(7).)
- EBUSY
- The file pathname cannot be unlinked because it is being used by the system or another process; for example, it is a mount point or the NFS client software created it to represent an active but otherwise nameless inode ("NFS silly renamed").
- EFAULT
- pathname points outside your accessible address space.
- EIO
- An I/O error occurred.
- EISDIR
- pathname refers to a directory. (This is the non-POSIX value returned by Linux since 2.1.132.)
- ELOOP
- Too many symbolic links were encountered in translating pathname.
- ENAMETOOLONG
- pathname was too long.
- ENOENT
- A component in pathname does not exist or is a dangling symbolic link, or pathname is empty.
- ENOMEM
- Insufficient kernel memory was available.
- ENOTDIR
- A component used as a directory in pathname is not, in fact, a directory.
- EPERM
- The system does not allow unlinking of directories, or unlinking of directories requires privileges that the calling process doesn't have. (This is the POSIX prescribed error return; as noted above, Linux returns EISDIR for this case.)
- EPERM (Linux only)
- The file system does not allow unlinking of files.
- EPERM or EACCES
- 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, and the process is not privileged (Linux: does not have the CAP_FOWNER capability).
- EROFS
- pathname refers to a file on a read-only file system.
