rmdir(2) System Calls rmdir(2)NAMErmdir - remove a directory
SYNOPSIS
#include <unistd.h>
int rmdir(const char *path);
DESCRIPTION
The rmdir() function removes the directory named by the path name
pointed to by path. The directory must not have any entries other than
"." and "..".
If the directory's link count becomes zero and no process has the
directory open, the space occupied by the directory is freed and the
directory is no longer accessible. If one or more processes have the
directory open when the last link is removed, the "." and ".." entries,
if present, are removed before rmdir() returns and no new entries may
be created in the directory, but the directory is not removed until all
references to the directory have been closed.
Upon successful completion rmdir() marks for update the st_ctime and
st_mtime fields of the parent directory.
RETURN VALUES
Upon successful completion, 0 is returned. Otherwise, −1 is returned,
errno is set to indicate the error, and the named directory is not
changed.
ERRORS
The rmdir() function will fail if:
EACCES Search permission is denied for a component of
the path prefix and {PRIV_FILE_DAC_SEARCH} is
not asserted in the effective set of the call‐
ing process
Write permission is denied on the directory
containing the directory to be removed and
{PRIV_FILE_DAC_WRITE} is not asserted.
The parent directory has the S_ISVTX variable
set, is not owned by the user, and
{PRIV_FILE_OWNER} is not asserted.
The directory is not owned by the user and is
not writable by the user.
EBUSY The directory to be removed is the mount point
for a mounted file system.
EEXIST The directory contains entries other than those
for "." and "..".
EFAULT The path argument points to an illegal address.
EINVAL The directory to be removed is the current
directory, or the final component of path is
".".
EIO An I/O error occurred while accessing the file
system.
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 directory does not exist or is the
null pathname.
ENOLINK The path argument points to a remote machine,
and the connection to that machine is no longer
active.
ENOTDIR A component of the path prefix is not a direc‐
tory.
EROFS The directory entry to be removed is part of a
read-only file system.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
│ ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│Interface Stability │Standard │
├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│MT-Level │Async-Signal-Safe │
└─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
SEE ALSOmkdir(1), rm(1), mkdir(2), attributes(5), privileges(5), standards(5)SunOS 5.10 28 Dec 1996 rmdir(2)
