NAME

       rmdir - remove a directory

SYNOPSIS

       #include <unistd.h>

       int rmdir(const char *path);

DESCRIPTION

       The rmdir() function shall remove a directory whose name is given by path. The directory shall be removed
       only if it is an empty directory.

       If the directory is the root directory or the current working directory of any process, it is unspecified
       whether the function succeeds, or whether it shall fail and set errno to [EBUSY].

       If path names a symbolic link, then rmdir() shall fail and set errno to [ENOTDIR].

       If the path argument refers to a path whose final component is either dot or dot-dot, rmdir() shall fail.

       If  the directory's link count becomes 0 and no process has the directory open, the space occupied by the
       directory shall be freed and the directory shall no longer be accessible. If one or more  processes  have
       the  directory  open  when  the  last  link is removed, the dot and dot-dot entries, if present, shall be
       removed before rmdir() returns and no new entries may be created in  the  directory,  but  the  directory
       shall not be removed until all references to the directory are closed.

       If the directory is not an empty directory, rmdir() shall fail and set errno to [EEXIST] or [ENOTEMPTY].

       Upon  successful  completion, the rmdir() function shall mark for update the st_ctime and st_mtime fields
       of the parent directory.

RETURN VALUE

       Upon successful completion, the function rmdir() shall return 0. Otherwise, -1  shall  be  returned,  and
       errno set to indicate the error. If -1 is returned, the named directory shall not be changed.

ERRORS

       The rmdir() function shall fail if:

       EACCES Search  permission  is  denied on a component of the path prefix, or write permission is denied on
              the parent directory of the directory to be removed.

       EBUSY  The directory to be  removed  is  currently  in  use  by  the  system  or  some  process  and  the
              implementation considers this to be an error.

       EEXIST or ENOTEMPTY
              The path argument names a directory that is not an empty directory, or there are hard links to the
              directory other than dot or a single entry in dot-dot.

       EINVAL The path argument contains a last component that is dot.

       EIO    A physical I/O error has occurred.

       ELOOP  A loop exists in symbolic links encountered during resolution of the path argument.

       ENAMETOOLONG
              The length of the path argument  exceeds  {PATH_MAX}  or  a  pathname  component  is  longer  than
              {NAME_MAX}.

       ENOENT A  component  of  path  does  not  name an existing file, or the path argument names a nonexistent
              directory or points to an empty string.

       ENOTDIR
              A component of path is not a directory.

       EPERM or EACCES

              The S_ISVTX flag is set on the parent directory of the directory to be removed and the  caller  is
              not the owner of the directory to be removed, nor is the caller the owner of the parent directory,
              nor does the caller have the appropriate privileges.

       EROFS  The directory entry to be removed resides on a read-only file system.

       The rmdir() function may fail if:

       ELOOP  More than {SYMLOOP_MAX} symbolic links were encountered during resolution of the path argument.

       ENAMETOOLONG
              As a result of encountering a symbolic link in resolution of the path argument, the length of  the
              substituted pathname string exceeded {PATH_MAX}.

       The following sections are informative.

EXAMPLES

   Removing a Directory
       The following example shows how to remove a directory named /home/cnd/mod1.

              #include <unistd.h>

              int status;
              ...
              status = rmdir("/home/cnd/mod1");

APPLICATION USAGE

       None.

RATIONALE

       The  rmdir()  and  rename()  functions originated in 4.2 BSD, and they used [ENOTEMPTY] for the condition
       when the directory to be removed does not exist or new already exists. When the 1984 /usr/group  standard
       was  published, it contained [EEXIST] instead.  When these functions were adopted into System V, the 1984
       /usr/group standard was used as a reference. Therefore, several existing applications and implementations
       support/use  both  forms,  and  no  agreement  could  be reached on either value. All implementations are
       required to supply both [EEXIST] and [ENOTEMPTY] in <errno.h> with distinct values, so that  applications
       can use both values in C-language case statements.

       The  meaning of deleting pathname /dot is unclear, because the name of the file (directory) in the parent
       directory to be removed is not clear, particularly in the presence of multiple links to a directory.

       The POSIX.1-1990 standard was silent with regard to the behavior of rmdir() when there are multiple  hard
       links  to  the directory being removed. The requirement to set errno to [EEXIST] or [ENOTEMPTY] clarifies
       the behavior in this case.

       If the process' current working directory is being removed, that should be an allowed error.

       Virtually all existing implementations detect [ENOTEMPTY] or the case  of  dot-dot.  The  text  in  Error
       Numbers  about  returning  any  one of the possible errors permits that behavior to continue. The [ELOOP]
       error may be returned if more than {SYMLOOP_MAX} symbolic links are encountered during resolution of  the
       path argument.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

       None.

SEE ALSO

       Error  Numbers  ,  mkdir()  ,  remove() , unlink() , the Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001,
       <unistd.h>

COPYRIGHT

       Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition,
       Standard  for  Information Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base
       Specifications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2003 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers,
       Inc  and  The  Open Group. In the event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and
       The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group  Standard  is  the  referee  document.  The
       original Standard can be obtained online at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .