NAME

       remove - remove a file or directory

LIBRARY

       Standard C library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS

       #include <stdio.h>

       int remove(const char *pathname);

DESCRIPTION

       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.

RETURN VALUE

       On success, zero is returned.  On error, -1 is returned, and errno is set to indicate the error.

ERRORS

       The errors that occur are those for unlink(2) and rmdir(2).

ATTRIBUTES

       For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see attributes(7).
       ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────┬─────────┐
       │ Interface                                                                   │ Attribute     │ Value   │
       ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────────┼─────────┤
       │ remove()                                                                    │ Thread safety │ MT-Safe │
       └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┴───────────────┴─────────┘

STANDARDS

       C11, POSIX.1-2008.

HISTORY

       POSIX.1-2001, C89, 4.3BSD.

BUGS

       Infelicities  in  the  protocol  underlying NFS can cause the unexpected disappearance of files which are
       still being used.

SEE ALSO

       rm(1), unlink(1), link(2), mknod(2), open(2), rename(2), rmdir(2), unlink(2), mkfifo(3), symlink(7)

Linux man-pages 6.7                                2023-10-31                                          remove(3)