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UNLINK(3P) POSIX Programmer's Manual UNLINK(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
unlink - remove a directory entry
SYNOPSIS
#include <unistd.h>
int unlink(const char *path);
DESCRIPTION
The unlink() function shall remove a link to a file. If path names a symbolic link, unlink() shall remove the symbolic
link named by path and shall not affect any file or directory named by the contents of the symbolic link. Otherwise,
unlink() shall remove the link named by the pathname pointed to by path and shall decrement the link count of the file
referenced by the link.
When the file's link count becomes 0 and no process has the file open, the space occupied by the file shall be freed and
the file shall no longer be accessible. If one or more processes have the file open when the last link is removed, the
link shall be removed before unlink() returns, but the removal of the file contents shall be postponed until all refer-
ences to the file are closed.
The path argument shall not name a directory unless the process has appropriate privileges and the implementation sup-
ports using unlink() on directories.
Upon successful completion, unlink() shall mark for update the st_ctime and st_mtime fields of the parent directory.
Also, if the file's link count is not 0, the st_ctime field of the file shall be marked for update.
RETURN VALUE
Upon successful completion, 0 shall be returned. Otherwise, -1 shall be returned and errno set to indicate the error. If
-1 is returned, the named file shall not be changed.
ERRORS
The unlink() function shall fail and shall not unlink the file if:
EACCES Search permission is denied for a component of the path prefix, or write permission is denied on the directory
containing the directory entry to be removed.
EBUSY The file named by the path argument cannot be unlinked because it is being used by the system or another process
and the implementation considers this an error.
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 path is an empty string.
ENOTDIR
A component of the path prefix is not a directory.
EPERM The file named by path is a directory, and either the calling process does not have appropriate privileges, or the
implementation prohibits using unlink() on directories.
EPERM or EACCES
The S_ISVTX flag is set on the directory containing the file referred to by the path argument and the caller is
not the file owner, nor is the caller the directory owner, nor does the caller have appropriate privileges.
EROFS The directory entry to be unlinked is part of a read-only file system.
The unlink() function may fail and not unlink the file if:
EBUSY The file named by path is a named STREAM.
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}.
ETXTBSY
The entry to be unlinked is the last directory entry to a pure procedure (shared text) file that is being exe-
cuted.
The following sections are informative.
EXAMPLES
Removing a Link to a File
The following example shows how to remove a link to a file named /home/cnd/mod1 by removing the entry named /mod-
ules/pass1.
#include <unistd.h>
char *path = "/modules/pass1";
int status;
...
status = unlink(path);
Checking for an Error
The following example fragment creates a temporary password lock file named LOCKFILE, which is defined as /etc/ptmp, and
gets a file descriptor for it. If the file cannot be opened for writing, unlink() is used to remove the link between the
file descriptor and LOCKFILE.
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <errno.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#define LOCKFILE "/etc/ptmp"
int pfd; /* Integer for file descriptor returned by open call. */
FILE *fpfd; /* File pointer for use in putpwent(). */
...
/* Open password Lock file. If it exists, this is an error. */
if ((pfd = open(LOCKFILE, O_WRONLY| O_CREAT | O_EXCL, S_IRUSR
| S_IWUSR | S_IRGRP | S_IROTH)) == -1) {
fprintf(stderr, "Cannot open /etc/ptmp. Try again later.\n");
exit(1);
}
/* Lock file created; proceed with fdopen of lock file so that
putpwent() can be used.
*/
if ((fpfd = fdopen(pfd, "w")) == NULL) {
close(pfd);
unlink(LOCKFILE);
exit(1);
}
Replacing Files
The following example fragment uses unlink() to discard links to files, so that they can be replaced with new versions of
the files. The first call removes the link to LOCKFILE if an error occurs. Successive calls remove the links to SAVEFILE
and PASSWDFILE so that new links can be created, then removes the link to LOCKFILE when it is no longer needed.
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <errno.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#define LOCKFILE "/etc/ptmp"
#define PASSWDFILE "/etc/passwd"
#define SAVEFILE "/etc/opasswd"
...
/* If no change was made, assume error and leave passwd unchanged. */
if (!valid_change) {
fprintf(stderr, "Could not change password for user %s\n", user);
unlink(LOCKFILE);
exit(1);
}
/* Change permissions on new password file. */
chmod(LOCKFILE, S_IRUSR | S_IRGRP | S_IROTH);
/* Remove saved password file. */
unlink(SAVEFILE);
/* Save current password file. */
link(PASSWDFILE, SAVEFILE);
/* Remove current password file. */
unlink(PASSWDFILE);
/* Save new password file as current password file. */
link(LOCKFILE,PASSWDFILE);
/* Remove lock file. */
unlink(LOCKFILE);
exit(0);
APPLICATION USAGE
Applications should use rmdir() to remove a directory.
RATIONALE
Unlinking a directory is restricted to the superuser in many historical implementations for reasons given in link() (see
also rename()).
The meaning of [EBUSY] in historical implementations is "mount point busy". Since this volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001
does not cover the system administration concepts of mounting and unmounting, the description of the error was changed to
"resource busy". (This meaning is used by some device drivers when a second process tries to open an exclusive use
device.) The wording is also intended to allow implementations to refuse to remove a directory if it is the root or cur-
rent working directory of any process.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
None.
SEE ALSO
close(), link(), remove(), rmdir(), 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 UNLINK(3P)
