REMOVE(3)                      GNU                      REMOVE(3)

NAME
       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.

       ENOMEM  Insufficient kernel memory was available.

       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
       In-felicities 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).

Linux                      13 July 1994                         1