rmdir.2 (2010 09)

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rmdir(2) rmdir(2)
NAME
rmdir() - remove a directory file
SYNOPSIS
#include <unistd.h>
int rmdir(const char *path);
DESCRIPTION
The rmdir() system call removes a directory file whose name is given by path . The directory must be
empty (except for the files
.
and ..) before it can be removed.
RETURN VALUE
rmdir() returns the following values:
0 Successful completion.
-1 Failure.
errno is set to indicate the error.
ERRORS
If
rmdir() fails, errno is set to one of the following values.
[EACCES] A component of the path prefix denies search permission.
[EACCES] Write permission is denied on the directory containing the link to be removed.
[EACCES] The process does not have read/write access permission to the parent directory.
[EBUSY] The directory to be removed is the mount point for a mounted file system.
[EBUSY] The path is the current working directory.
[EEXIST] The named directory is not empty. It contains files other than
. and ..
.
[EFAULT] path points outside the process’s allocated address space. The reliable detection of
this error is implementation-dependent.
[ELOOP] Too many symbolic links were encountered in translating the path name.
[ENAMETOOLONG]
The length of the specified path name exceeds
PATH_MAX bytes, or the length of a
component of the path name exceeds NAME_MAX bytes while _POSIX_NO_TRUNC
is in effect.
[ENOENT] The named file does not exist.
[ENOTDIR] A component of the path is not a directory.
[EPERM] The directory containing the directory to be removed has the sticky bit set and nei-
ther 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.
AUTHOR
rmdir() was developed by the University of California, Berkeley and HP.
SEE ALSO
mkdir(2), unlink(2), remove(3C), privileges(5).
STANDARDS CONFORMANCE
rmdir(): AES, SVID2, SVID3, XPG3, XPG4, FIPS 151-2, POSIX.1
HP-UX 11i Version 3: September 2010 − 1 − Hewlett-Packard Company 1