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RMDIR(2)                    BSD System Calls Manual                   RMDIR(2)

NAME
     rmdir -- remove a directory file

SYNOPSIS
     #include <unistd.h>

     int
     rmdir(const char *path);

DESCRIPTION
     Rmdir() removes a directory file whose name is given by path.  The direc-tory directory
     tory must not have any entries other than `.' and `..'.

RETURN VALUES
     A 0 is returned if the remove succeeds; otherwise a -1 is returned and an
     error code is stored in the global location errno.

ERRORS
     The named file is removed unless:

     [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]           Path points outside the process's allocated address
                        space.

     [EIO]              An I/O error occurs while deleting the directory entry
                        or deallocating the inode.

     [ELOOP]            Too many symbolic links are encountered in translating
                        the pathname.  This is taken to be indicative of a
                        looping symbolic link.

     [ENAMETOOLONG]     A component of a pathname (possibly expanded by a sym-bolic symbolic
                        bolic link) exceeds {NAME_MAX} characters, or an
                        entire path name exceeded {PATH_MAX} characters.

     [ENOENT]           The named directory does not exist.

     [ENOTDIR]          A component of the path is not a directory.

     [ENOTEMPTY]        The named directory contains files other than `.' and
                        `..' in it.

     [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 readonly
                        only file system.

SEE ALSO
     mkdir(2), unlink(2)

HISTORY
     The rmdir() function call appeared in 4.2BSD.

4.2 Berkeley Distribution        June 4, 1993        4.2 Berkeley Distribution