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RMDIR(3P)                  POSIX Programmer's Manual                 RMDIR(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
       rmdir -- remove a directory
SYNOPSIS
       #include <unistd.h>
       int rmdir(const char *path);
DESCRIPTION
       The rmdir() function shall remove a directory whose name  is  given  by
       path.  The directory shall be removed only if it is an empty directory.
       If the directory is the root directory or the current working directory
       of any process, it is unspecified whether  the  function  succeeds,  or
       whether it shall fail and set errno to [EBUSY].
       If path names a symbolic link, then rmdir() shall fail and set errno to
       [ENOTDIR].
       If the path argument refers to a path whose final component  is  either
       dot or dot-dot, rmdir() shall fail.
       If  the  directory's link count becomes 0 and no process has the direc-
       tory open, the space occupied by the directory shall be freed  and  the
       directory  shall no longer be accessible. If one or more processes have
       the directory open when the last link is removed, the dot  and  dot-dot
       entries, if present, shall be removed before rmdir() returns and no new
       entries may be created in the directory, but the directory shall not be
       removed until all references to the directory are closed.
       If  the directory is not an empty directory, rmdir() shall fail and set
       errno to [EEXIST] or [ENOTEMPTY].
       Upon successful completion, rmdir() shall mark for update the last data
       modification  and  last  file  status  change  timestamps of the parent
       directory.
RETURN VALUE
       Upon successful completion, the function rmdir() shall return 0. Other-
       wise,  -1 shall be returned, and errno set to indicate the error. If -1
       is returned, the named directory shall not be changed.
ERRORS
       The rmdir() function shall fail if:
       EACCES Search permission is denied on a component of the  path  prefix,
              or  write  permission  is  denied on the parent directory of the
              directory to be removed.
       EBUSY  The directory to be removed is currently in use by the system or
              some  process  and  the  implementation  considers this to be an
              error.
       [EEXIST] or [ENOTEMPTY]
                   The path argument names a directory that is  not  an  empty
                   directory,  or  there are hard links to the directory other
                   than dot or a single entry in dot-dot.
       EINVAL      The path argument contains a last component that is dot.
       EIO         A physical I/O error has occurred.
       ELOOP       A loop exists in symbolic links encountered during  resolu-
                   tion of the path argument.
       ENAMETOOLONG
                   The  length  of  a  component  of a pathname is longer than
                   {NAME_MAX}.
       ENOENT      A component of path does not name an existing file, or  the
                   path argument names a nonexistent directory or points to an
                   empty string.
       ENOTDIR     A component of path names an existing file that is  neither
                   a directory nor a symbolic link to a directory.
       [EPERM] or [EACCES]
                   The  S_ISVTX  flag  is  set on the directory containing the
                   file referred to by the path argument and the process  does
                   not  satisfy the criteria specified in the Base Definitions
                   volume of POSIX.1-2008, Section 4.2, Directory Protection.
       EROFS       The directory entry to be removed resides  on  a  read-only
                   file system.
       The rmdir() function may fail if:
       ELOOP  More  than  {SYMLOOP_MAX} symbolic links were encountered during
              resolution of the path argument.
       ENAMETOOLONG
              The length of a pathname exceeds {PATH_MAX}, or pathname resolu-
              tion  of  a symbolic link produced an intermediate result with a
              length that exceeds {PATH_MAX}.
       The following sections are informative.
EXAMPLES
   Removing a Directory
       The  following  example  shows  how  to  remove   a   directory   named
       /home/cnd/mod1.
           #include <unistd.h>
           int status;
           ...
           status = rmdir("/home/cnd/mod1");
APPLICATION USAGE
       None.
RATIONALE
       The rmdir() and rename() functions originated in 4.2 BSD, and they used
       [ENOTEMPTY] for the condition when the directory to be removed does not
       exist or new already exists. When the 1984 /usr/group standard was pub-
       lished, it  contained  [EEXIST]  instead.  When  these  functions  were
       adopted  into System V, the 1984 /usr/group standard was used as a ref-
       erence. Therefore, several existing  applications  and  implementations
       support/use  both  forms,  and  no agreement could be reached on either
       value. All implementations are required to  supply  both  [EEXIST]  and
       [ENOTEMPTY] in <errno.h> with distinct values, so that applications can
       use both values in C-language case statements.
       The meaning of deleting pathname/dot is unclear, because  the  name  of
       the  file  (directory)  in  the  parent  directory to be removed is not
       clear, particularly in the presence of multiple links to a directory.
       The POSIX.1-1990 standard was silent with regard  to  the  behavior  of
       rmdir()  when  there  are  multiple  hard  links to the directory being
       removed. The requirement to set errno to [EEXIST] or [ENOTEMPTY] clari-
       fies the behavior in this case.
       If  the current working directory of the process is being removed, that
       should be an allowed error.
       Virtually all existing implementations detect [ENOTEMPTY] or  the  case
       of  dot-dot. The text in Section 2.3, Error Numbers about returning any
       one of the possible errors  permits  that  behavior  to  continue.  The
       [ELOOP] error may be returned if more than {SYMLOOP_MAX} symbolic links
       are encountered during resolution of the path argument.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
       None.
SEE ALSO
       Section 2.3, Error Numbers, mkdir(), remove(), rename(), unlink()
       The Base Definitions volume of  POSIX.1-2008,  Section  4.2,  Directory
       Protection, <unistd.h>
COPYRIGHT
       Portions  of  this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form
       from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2013 Edition, Standard for Information Technology
       --  Portable  Operating  System  Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base
       Specifications Issue 7, Copyright (C) 2013 by the Institute of Electri-
       cal  and  Electronics  Engineers,  Inc  and  The  Open Group.  (This is
       POSIX.1-2008 with the 2013 Technical Corrigendum  1  applied.)  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.unix.org/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.ker-
       nel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .
IEEE/The Open Group                  2013                            RMDIR(3P)