Computer Science
RMDIR(2) Linux Programmer's Manual RMDIR(2)
NAME
rmdir - delete a directory
SYNOPSIS
#include <unistd.h>
int rmdir(const char *pathname);
DESCRIPTION
rmdir deletes a directory, which must be empty.
RETURN VALUE
On success, zero is returned. On error, -1 is returned,
and errno is set appropriately.
ERRORS
EPERM The filesystem containing pathname does not sup-
port the removal of directories.
EFAULT pathname points outside your accessible address
space.
EACCES Write access to the directory containing pathname
was 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 pathname, or a component used as a directory in
pathname, is not, in fact, a directory.
ENOTEMPTY
pathname contains entries other than . and .. .
EBUSY pathname is the current working directory or root
directory of some process.
ENOMEM Insufficient kernel memory was available.
EROFS pathname refers to a file on a read-only filesys-
tem.
ELOOP Too many symbolic links were encountered in
resolving pathname.
CONFORMING TO
SVr4, SVID, POSIX, BSD 4.3
BUGS
Infelicities in the protocol underlying NFS can cause the
unexpected disappearance of directories which are still
being used.
SEE ALSO
rename(2), mkdir(2), chdir(2), unlink(2), rmdir(1), rm(1)
Linux 0.99.7 24 July 1993 1
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