1RMDIR(3P)                  POSIX Programmer's Manual                 RMDIR(3P)
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PROLOG

6       This  manual  page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual.  The Linux
7       implementation of this interface may differ (consult the  corresponding
8       Linux  manual page for details of Linux behavior), or the interface may
9       not be implemented on Linux.
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11

NAME

13       rmdir — remove a directory
14

SYNOPSIS

16       #include <unistd.h>
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18       int rmdir(const char *path);
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DESCRIPTION

21       The rmdir() function shall remove a directory whose name  is  given  by
22       path.  The directory shall be removed only if it is an empty directory.
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24       If the directory is the root directory or the current working directory
25       of any process, it is unspecified whether  the  function  succeeds,  or
26       whether it shall fail and set errno to [EBUSY].
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28       If path names a symbolic link, then rmdir() shall fail and set errno to
29       [ENOTDIR].
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31       If the path argument refers to a path whose final component  is  either
32       dot or dot-dot, rmdir() shall fail.
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34       If  the  directory's link count becomes 0 and no process has the direc‐
35       tory open, the space occupied by the directory shall be freed  and  the
36       directory  shall no longer be accessible. If one or more processes have
37       the directory open when the last link is removed, the dot  and  dot-dot
38       entries, if present, shall be removed before rmdir() returns and no new
39       entries may be created in the directory, but the directory shall not be
40       removed until all references to the directory are closed.
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42       If  the directory is not an empty directory, rmdir() shall fail and set
43       errno to [EEXIST] or [ENOTEMPTY].
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45       Upon successful completion, rmdir() shall mark for update the last data
46       modification  and  last  file  status  change  timestamps of the parent
47       directory.
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RETURN VALUE

50       Upon successful completion, the function rmdir() shall return 0. Other‐
51       wise,  −1 shall be returned, and errno set to indicate the error. If −1
52       is returned, the named directory shall not be changed.
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ERRORS

55       The rmdir() function shall fail if:
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57       EACCES Search permission is denied on a component of the  path  prefix,
58              or  write  permission  is  denied on the parent directory of the
59              directory to be removed.
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61       EBUSY  The directory to be removed is currently in use by the system or
62              some  process  and  the  implementation  considers this to be an
63              error.
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65       [EEXIST] or [ENOTEMPTY]
66                   The path argument names a directory that is  not  an  empty
67                   directory,  or  there are hard links to the directory other
68                   than dot or a single entry in dot-dot.
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70       EINVAL      The path argument contains a last component that is dot.
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72       EIO         A physical I/O error has occurred.
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74       ELOOP       A loop exists in symbolic links encountered during  resolu‐
75                   tion of the path argument.
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77       ENAMETOOLONG
78                   The  length  of  a  component  of a pathname is longer than
79                   {NAME_MAX}.
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81       ENOENT      A component of path does not name an existing file, or  the
82                   path argument names a nonexistent directory or points to an
83                   empty string.
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85       ENOTDIR     A component of path names an existing file that is  neither
86                   a directory nor a symbolic link to a directory.
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88       [EPERM] or [EACCES]
89                   The  S_ISVTX  flag  is  set on the directory containing the
90                   file referred to by the path argument and the process  does
91                   not  satisfy the criteria specified in the Base Definitions
92                   volume of POSIX.1‐2008, Section 4.2, Directory Protection.
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94       EROFS       The directory entry to be removed resides  on  a  read-only
95                   file system.
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97       The rmdir() function may fail if:
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99       ELOOP  More  than  {SYMLOOP_MAX} symbolic links were encountered during
100              resolution of the path argument.
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102       ENAMETOOLONG
103              The length of a pathname exceeds {PATH_MAX}, or pathname resolu‐
104              tion  of  a symbolic link produced an intermediate result with a
105              length that exceeds {PATH_MAX}.
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107       The following sections are informative.
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EXAMPLES

110   Removing a Directory
111       The  following  example  shows  how  to  remove   a   directory   named
112       /home/cnd/mod1.
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114           #include <unistd.h>
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116           int status;
117           ...
118           status = rmdir("/home/cnd/mod1");
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APPLICATION USAGE

121       None.
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RATIONALE

124       The rmdir() and rename() functions originated in 4.2 BSD, and they used
125       [ENOTEMPTY] for the condition when the directory to be removed does not
126       exist or new already exists. When the 1984 /usr/group standard was pub‐
127       lished, it  contained  [EEXIST]  instead.  When  these  functions  were
128       adopted  into System V, the 1984 /usr/group standard was used as a ref‐
129       erence. Therefore, several existing  applications  and  implementations
130       support/use  both  forms,  and  no agreement could be reached on either
131       value. All implementations are required to  supply  both  [EEXIST]  and
132       [ENOTEMPTY] in <errno.h> with distinct values, so that applications can
133       use both values in C-language case statements.
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135       The meaning of deleting pathname/dot is unclear, because  the  name  of
136       the  file  (directory)  in  the  parent  directory to be removed is not
137       clear, particularly in the presence of multiple links to a directory.
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139       The POSIX.1‐1990 standard was silent with regard  to  the  behavior  of
140       rmdir()  when  there  are  multiple  hard  links to the directory being
141       removed. The requirement to set errno to [EEXIST] or [ENOTEMPTY] clari‐
142       fies the behavior in this case.
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144       If  the current working directory of the process is being removed, that
145       should be an allowed error.
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147       Virtually all existing implementations detect [ENOTEMPTY] or  the  case
148       of  dot-dot. The text in Section 2.3, Error Numbers about returning any
149       one of the possible errors  permits  that  behavior  to  continue.  The
150       [ELOOP] error may be returned if more than {SYMLOOP_MAX} symbolic links
151       are encountered during resolution of the path argument.
152

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

154       None.
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SEE ALSO

157       Section 2.3, Error Numbers, mkdir(), remove(), rename(), unlink()
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159       The Base Definitions volume of  POSIX.1‐2008,  Section  4.2,  Directory
160       Protection, <unistd.h>
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163       Portions  of  this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form
164       from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2013 Edition, Standard for Information Technology
165       --  Portable  Operating  System  Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base
166       Specifications Issue 7, Copyright (C) 2013 by the Institute of Electri‐
167       cal  and  Electronics  Engineers,  Inc  and  The  Open Group.  (This is
168       POSIX.1-2008 with the 2013 Technical Corrigendum  1  applied.)  In  the
169       event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and
170       The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group  Standard
171       is  the  referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online
172       at http://www.unix.org/online.html .
173
174       Any typographical or formatting errors that appear  in  this  page  are
175       most likely to have been introduced during the conversion of the source
176       files to man page format. To report such errors,  see  https://www.ker
177       nel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .
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181IEEE/The Open Group                  2013                            RMDIR(3P)
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