REMOVE(3P)

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

NAME
remove — remove a file

SYNOPSIS

#include <stdio.h>

int remove(const char *path);

DESCRIPTION
The functionality described on this reference page is aligned with the ISO C standard. Any conflict between the requirements described here and the ISO C standard is unintentional. This volume of POSIX.1-2017 defers to the ISO C standard.

The remove() function shall cause the file named by the pathname pointed to by path to be no longer accessible by that name. A subsequent attempt to open that file using that name shall fail, unless it is created anew.

If path does not name a directory, remove(path) shall be equivalent to unlink(path).

If path names a directory, remove(path) shall be equivalent to rmdir(path).

RETURN VALUE
Refer to rmdir() or unlink().

ERRORS
Refer to rmdir() or unlink().

The following sections are informative.

EXAMPLES

  Removing Access to a File

The following example shows how to remove access to a file named /home/cnd/old_mods.

    #include <stdio.h>

    int status;
    ...
    status = remove("/home/cnd/old_mods");

APPLICATION USAGE
None.

RATIONALE
None.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS
None.

SEE ALSO
rmdir(), unlink()

The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1-2017, <stdio.h>

COPYRIGHT
Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std 1003.1-2017, Standard for Information Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 7, 2018 Edition, Copyright (C) 2018 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 .

Any typographical or formatting errors that appear in this page are most likely to have been introduced during the conversion of the source files to man page format. To report such errors, see https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .