NAME

       unlink - delete a name and possibly the file it refers to

SYNOPSIS

       #include <unistd.h>

       int unlink(const char *pathname);

DESCRIPTION

       unlink() deletes a name from the filesystem.  If that 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

       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 filesystem 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 filesystem.

CONFORMING TO

       SVr4, 4.3BSD, POSIX.1-2001.

BUGS

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

SEE ALSO

       rm(1), chmod(2), link(2), mknod(2), open(2), rename(2), rmdir(2), unlinkat(2),  mkfifo(3),
       remove(3), path_resolution(7), symlink(7)

COLOPHON

       This  page  is  part of release 3.54 of the Linux man-pages project.  A description of the
       project,    and    information    about    reporting    bugs,    can    be    found     at
       http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.