4.52 remove—delete a file’s name

Synopsis

#include <stdio.h>
int remove(char *filename);

int _remove_r(struct _reent *reent, char *filename);

Description
Use remove to dissolve the association between a particular filename (the string at filename) and the file it represents. After calling remove with a particular filename, you will no longer be able to open the file by that name.

In this implementation, you may use remove on an open file without error; existing file descriptors for the file will continue to access the file’s data until the program using them closes the file.

The alternate function _remove_r is a reentrant version. The extra argument reent is a pointer to a reentrancy structure.

Returns
remove returns 0 if it succeeds, -1 if it fails.

Portability
ANSI C requires remove, but only specifies that the result on failure be nonzero. The behavior of remove when you call it on an open file may vary among implementations.

Supporting OS subroutine required: unlink.