.\" Copyright (c) 2001-2003 The Open Group, All Rights Reserved 
.TH "RMDIR" 3P 2003 "IEEE/The Open Group" "POSIX Programmer's Manual"
.\" rmdir 
.SH 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.
.SH NAME
rmdir \- remove a directory
.SH SYNOPSIS
.LP
\fB#include <unistd.h>
.br
.sp
int rmdir(const char *\fP\fIpath\fP\fB);
.br
\fP
.SH DESCRIPTION
.LP
The \fIrmdir\fP() function shall remove a directory whose name is
given by \fIpath\fP. The directory shall be removed only if
it is an empty directory.
.LP
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 \fIerrno\fP to [EBUSY].
.LP
If \fIpath\fP names a symbolic link, then \fIrmdir\fP() shall fail
and set \fIerrno\fP to [ENOTDIR].
.LP
If the \fIpath\fP argument refers to a path whose final component
is either dot or dot-dot, \fIrmdir\fP() shall fail.
.LP
If the directory's link count becomes 0 and no process has the directory
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 \fIrmdir\fP() 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.
.LP
If the directory is not an empty directory, \fIrmdir\fP() shall fail
and set \fIerrno\fP to [EEXIST] or [ENOTEMPTY].
.LP
Upon successful completion, the \fIrmdir\fP() function shall mark
for update the \fIst_ctime\fP and \fIst_mtime\fP fields of
the parent directory.
.SH RETURN VALUE
.LP
Upon successful completion, the function \fIrmdir\fP() shall return
0. Otherwise, -1 shall be returned, and \fIerrno\fP set to
indicate the error. If -1 is returned, the named directory shall not
be changed.
.SH ERRORS
.LP
The \fIrmdir\fP() function shall fail if:
.TP 7
.B 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.
.TP 7
.B 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.
.TP 7
.B EEXIST \fRor\fP ENOTEMPTY
The \fIpath\fP 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.
.TP 7
.B EINVAL
The \fIpath\fP argument contains a last component that is dot.
.TP 7
.B EIO
A physical I/O error has occurred.
.TP 7
.B ELOOP
A loop exists in symbolic links encountered during resolution of the
\fIpath\fP argument.
.TP 7
.B ENAMETOOLONG
The length of the \fIpath\fP argument exceeds {PATH_MAX} or a pathname
component is longer than {NAME_MAX}.
.TP 7
.B ENOENT
A component of \fIpath\fP does not name an existing file, or the \fIpath\fP
argument names a nonexistent directory or points
to an empty string.
.TP 7
.B ENOTDIR
A component of \fIpath\fP is not a directory.
.TP 7
.B EPERM \fRor\fP EACCES
.sp
The S_ISVTX flag is set on the parent directory of the directory to
be removed and the caller is not the owner of the directory to
be removed, nor is the caller the owner of the parent directory, nor
does the caller have the appropriate privileges. 
.TP 7
.B EROFS
The directory entry to be removed resides on a read-only file system.
.sp
.LP
The \fIrmdir\fP() function may fail if:
.TP 7
.B ELOOP
More than {SYMLOOP_MAX} symbolic links were encountered during resolution
of the \fIpath\fP argument.
.TP 7
.B ENAMETOOLONG
As a result of encountering a symbolic link in resolution of the \fIpath\fP
argument, the length of the substituted pathname
string exceeded {PATH_MAX}.
.sp
.LP
\fIThe following sections are informative.\fP
.SH EXAMPLES
.SS Removing a Directory
.LP
The following example shows how to remove a directory named \fB/home/cnd/mod1\fP.
.sp
.RS
.nf

\fB#include <unistd.h>
.sp

int status;
\&...
status = rmdir("/home/cnd/mod1");
\fP
.fi
.RE
.SH APPLICATION USAGE
.LP
None.
.SH RATIONALE
.LP
The \fIrmdir\fP() and \fIrename\fP() functions originated in 4.2 BSD,
and they used
[ENOTEMPTY] for the condition when the directory to be removed does
not exist or \fInew\fP already exists. When the 1984
/usr/group standard was published, it contained [EEXIST] instead.
When these functions were adopted into System V, the 1984
/usr/group standard was used as a reference. 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 \fI<errno.h>\fP
with distinct values, so that applications can use both values in
C-language \fBcase\fP statements.
.LP
The meaning of deleting \fIpathname\fP \fB/dot\fP 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.
.LP
The POSIX.1-1990 standard was silent with regard to the behavior of
\fIrmdir\fP() when there are multiple hard links to the
directory being removed. The requirement to set \fIerrno\fP to [EEXIST]
or [ENOTEMPTY] clarifies the behavior in this case.
.LP
If the process' current working directory is being removed, that should
be an allowed error.
.LP
Virtually all existing implementations detect [ENOTEMPTY] or the case
of dot-dot. The text in \fIError Numbers\fP 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
\fIpath\fP argument.
.SH FUTURE DIRECTIONS
.LP
None.
.SH SEE ALSO
.LP
\fIError Numbers\fP, \fImkdir\fP(), \fIremove\fP(), \fIunlink\fP(),
the Base Definitions volume of
IEEE\ Std\ 1003.1-2001, \fI<unistd.h>\fP
.SH COPYRIGHT
Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form
from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for Information Technology
-- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base
Specifications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2003 by the Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. 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.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .