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UNLINKAT(2)                Linux Programmer's Manual               UNLINKAT(2)

NAME
       unlinkat  -  remove  a  directory  entry  relative  to a directory file
       descriptor
SYNOPSIS
       #include <fcntl.h> /* Definition of AT_* constants */
       #include <unistd.h>
       int unlinkat(int dirfd, const char *pathname, int flags);
   Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):
       unlinkat():
           Since glibc 2.10:
               _XOPEN_SOURCE >= 700 || _POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200809L
           Before glibc 2.10:
               _ATFILE_SOURCE
DESCRIPTION
       The unlinkat() system call operates in exactly the same way  as  either
       unlink(2)  or  rmdir(2) (depending on whether or not flags includes the
       AT_REMOVEDIR flag) except for the differences described in this  manual
       page.
       If  the  pathname given in pathname is relative, then it is interpreted
       relative to the directory referred to  by  the  file  descriptor  dirfd
       (rather  than  relative to the current working directory of the calling
       process, as is done by unlink(2) and rmdir(2) for a relative pathname).
       If the pathname given in pathname is relative and dirfd is the  special
       value  AT_FDCWD,  then  pathname is interpreted relative to the current
       working directory of the calling process (like unlink(2) and rmdir(2)).
       If the pathname given in pathname is absolute, then dirfd is ignored.
       flags is a bit mask that can either be specified  as  0,  or  by  ORing
       together  flag  values  that control the operation of unlinkat().  Cur-
       rently only one such flag is defined:
       AT_REMOVEDIR
              By default, unlinkat() performs the equivalent of  unlink(2)  on
              pathname.   If the AT_REMOVEDIR flag is specified, then performs
              the equivalent of rmdir(2) on pathname.
RETURN VALUE
       On success, unlinkat() returns 0.  On error, -1 is returned  and  errno
       is set to indicate the error.
ERRORS
       The  same  errors  that occur for unlink(2) and rmdir(2) can also occur
       for  unlinkat().   The  following  additional  errors  can  occur   for
       unlinkat():
       EBADF  dirfd is not a valid file descriptor.
       EINVAL An invalid flag value was specified in flags.
       ENOTDIR
              pathname is relative and dirfd is a file descriptor referring to
              a file other than a directory.
VERSIONS
       unlinkat() was added to Linux in kernel  2.6.16;  library  support  was
       added to glibc in version 2.4.
CONFORMING TO
       POSIX.1-2008.  A similar system call exists on Solaris.
NOTES
       See openat(2) for an explanation of the need for unlinkat().
SEE ALSO
       openat(2), rmdir(2), unlink(2), path_resolution(7)
COLOPHON
       This  page  is  part of release 3.53 of the Linux man-pages project.  A
       description of the project, and information about reporting  bugs,  can
       be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.

Linux                             2012-05-04                       UNLINKAT(2)