RMDIR(3P)                                           POSIX Programmer's Manual                                          RMDIR(3P)



PROLOG
       This  manual  page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual.  The Linux implementation of this interface may differ (con-
       sult the corresponding Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior), or the  interface  may  not  be  implemented  on
       Linux.

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 indi-
       cate 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  direc-
              tory 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  [EEX-
       IST]  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 return-
       ing  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, Copy-
       right (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.open-
       group.org/unix/online.html .



IEEE/The Open Group                                           2003                                                     RMDIR(3P)