UNLINKAT(2)		   Linux Programmers Manual		  UNLINKAT(2)



NAME
       unlinkat  -  remove  a  directory  entry  relative  to a directory file
       descriptor

SYNOPSIS
       #define _ATFILE_SOURCE
       #include 

       int unlinkat(int dirfd, const char *pathname, int flags);

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 flags 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.

CONFORMING TO
       This system call is non-standard but is proposed  for  inclusion  in  a
       future revision of POSIX.1.  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 3.05 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				  2006-04-10			   UNLINKAT(2)