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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 .