NAME

unlink − remove directory entry

SYNOPSIS

unlink(path)
char ∗path;

DESCRIPTION

Unlink removes the entry for the file path from its directory.  If this entry was the last link to the file, and no process has the file open, then the file is unlinked.  If, however, the file was open in any process, the actual destruction is delayed until it is closed, even though the directory entry has disappeared. 

RETURN VALUE

Upon successful completion, a value of 0 is returned.  Otherwise, a value of −1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the error. 

ERRORS

The unlink succeeds unless:

[ENOENT] The path name is too long. 

[ENOTDIR] A component of the path prefix is not a directory. 

[ENOENT] The named file does not exist. 

[EACCES] Search permission is denied for a componenet of the path prefix. 

[EACCES] Write permission is denied on the directory containing the link to be removed. 

[EPERM] The named file is a directory and the effective user ID of the process is not the super-user. 

[EBUSY] The entry to be unlinked is the mount point for a mounted file system. 

[EROFS] The named file resides on a read-only file system. 

[EFAULT] Path points outside the process’s allocated address space. 

[ELOOP] Too many symbolic links were encountered in translating the pathname. 

SEE ALSO

close(1), link(2), rmdir(2)

Sun System Release 0.3  —  1 April 1983