unlink(2)

NAME
     unlink - remove directory entry

C SYNOPSIS
     #include <unistd.h>

     int unlink(const char *path);

DESCRIPTION
     unlink removes the directory entry named by the path name pointed to by
     path.  and decrements the link count of the file referenced by the
     directory entry.  When all links to a file have been removed and no
     process has the file open, the space occupied by the file is freed and
     the file ceases to exist.  If one or more processes have the file open
     when the last link is removed, space occupied by the file is not released
     until all references to the file have been closed.  If path is a symbolic
     link, the symbolic link is removed.  Applications should use rmdir(2) to
     remove directories.

     Upon successful completion unlink marks for update the st_ctime and
     st_mtime fields of the parent directory. Also, if the file's link count
     is not zero, the st_ctime field of the file is marked for update.

     The named file is unlinked unless one or more of the following are true:

     EACCES              Search permission is denied for a component of the
                         path prefix.

     EACCES              Write permission is denied on the directory
                         containing the link to be removed and the process
                         does not have the super-user privilege.

     EACCES              The parent directory has the sticky bit set and the
                         file is not writable by the user; the user does not
                         own the parent directory and the user does not own
                         the file.

     EACCES              Write permission is denied on the file named by path.

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

     EFAULT              path points outside the process's allocated address
                         space.

     EINTR               A signal was caught during the unlink system call.

     ELOOP               Too many symbolic links were encountered in
                         translating path.
     ENAMETOOLONG        The length of the path argument exceeds {PATH_MAX},
                         or the length of a path component exceeds {NAME_MAX}
                         while _POSIX_NO_TRUNC is in effect.

     ENOENT              The named file does not exist or is a null pathname.
                         The user is not a super-user.

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

     EPERM               The named file is a directory.

     EROFS               The directory entry to be unlinked is part of a
                         read-only file system.

SEE ALSO
     rm(1), close(2), link(2), open(2), rename(2), rmdir(2).

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