RMDIR(2)RMDIR(2)NAMErmdir - remove a directory
SYNOPSIS
int rmdir(const char *path);
DESCRIPTION
The rmdir function removes a directory whose name is given by the path
argument. The directory must not have any entries other than “.” and
“..”.
If the link count of the directory becomes zero and no process has the
directory open, then the space occupied is reclaimed by the system. If
any process has the directory open when the last link is removed, then
the “.” and “..” are removed and no new entries may be created in the
directory. However, the space occupied by the directory itself is not
reclaimed until the directory has been closed.
Upon successful completion, the rmdir function marks for update the
st_ctime and st_mtime fields of the parent directory from which the
named directory is removed.
RETURN VALUE
Upon successful completion, the rmdir function returns a value of zero.
Otherwise, a value of -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the
error.
ERRORS
If any of the following conditions occurs, then rmdir returns -1 and
sets errno to the corresponding value:
[EACCES] Search permission is denied for a component of the path
prefix.
[EACCES] Write permission is denied on the directory containing
the link to be removed.
[EBUSY] The directory to be removed is the mount point for a
mounted file system.
[EFAULT] The path argument points outside the process's allocated
address space.
[EINVAL] The pathname contains a character with the high-order
bit set.
[EIO] An I/O error occurred while deleting the directory entry
or deallocating the inode.
[ELOOP] Too many symbolic links were encountered in translating
the pathname.
[ENAMETOOLONG] A component of path exceeds 255 characters, or the
entire pathname exceeds 1023 characters. For POSIX
applications these values are given by the constants
{NAME_MAX} and {PATH_MAX}, respectively.
[ENOTEMPTY] The named directory contains files other than “.” and
“..” in it.
[ENOENT] The named directory does not exist.
[ENOENT] The path argument points to an empty string.
[ENOTDIR] A component of the path is not a directory.
[EPERM] The directory containing the directory to be removed is
marked sticky, and neither the containing directory nor
the directory to be removed are owned by the effective
user ID.
[EROFS] The directory entry to be removed resides on a read-only
file system.
SEE ALSOmkdir(2), unlink(2)4.2 Berkeley Distribution August 1, 1992 RMDIR(2)
