NAME

       unlinkat - remove a directory entry relative to a directory file descriptor

SYNOPSIS

       #include <fcntl.h> /* Definition of AT_* constants */
       #include <unistd.h>

       int unlinkat(int dirfd, const char *pathname, int flags);

   Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):

       unlinkat():
           Since glibc 2.10:
               _XOPEN_SOURCE >= 700 || _POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200809L
           Before glibc 2.10:
               _ATFILE_SOURCE

DESCRIPTION

       The unlinkat() system call operates in exactly the same way as either unlink(2) or rmdir(2) (depending on
       whether  or not flags includes the AT_REMOVEDIR flag) except for the differences described in this manual
       page.

       If the pathname given in pathname is relative, then it is interpreted relative to the directory  referred
       to  by  the  file  descriptor dirfd (rather than relative to the current working directory of the calling
       process, as is done by unlink(2) and rmdir(2) for a relative pathname).

       If the pathname given in pathname is relative and dirfd is the special value AT_FDCWD, then  pathname  is
       interpreted  relative  to  the  current  working  directory  of  the  calling process (like unlink(2) and
       rmdir(2)).

       If the pathname given in pathname is absolute, then dirfd is ignored.

       flags is a bit mask that can either be specified as 0, or by ORing together flag values that control  the
       operation of unlinkat().  Currently only one such flag is defined:

       AT_REMOVEDIR
              By default, unlinkat() performs the equivalent of unlink(2) on pathname.  If the AT_REMOVEDIR flag
              is specified, then performs the equivalent of rmdir(2) on pathname.

RETURN VALUE

       On success, unlinkat() returns 0.  On error, -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the error.

ERRORS

       The  same  errors  that  occur  for  unlink(2) and rmdir(2) can also occur for unlinkat().  The following
       additional errors can occur for unlinkat():

       EBADF  dirfd is not a valid file descriptor.

       EINVAL An invalid flag value was specified in flags.

       ENOTDIR
              pathname is relative and dirfd is a file descriptor referring to a file other than a directory.

VERSIONS

       unlinkat() was added to Linux in kernel 2.6.16; library support was added to glibc in version 2.4.

CONFORMING TO

       POSIX.1-2008.  A similar system call exists on Solaris.

NOTES

       See openat(2) for an explanation of the need for unlinkat().

SEE ALSO

       openat(2), rmdir(2), unlink(2), path_resolution(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/.

Linux                                              2012-05-04                                        UNLINKAT(2)