remove

 

C

Language

Headers

Type support

Program utilities

Variadic function support

Error handling

Dynamic memory management

Strings library

Algorithms

Numerics

Date and time utilities

Input/output support

Localization support

Concurrency support (哋它亢11)

Technical Specifications

Symbol index

 

File input/output

Types and objects
FILE fpos_t      stdinstdoutstderr
Functions
File access fopenfopen_s (哋它亢11) freopenfreopen_s (哋它亢11) fwide (哋它亢95) setbuf setvbuf fclose fflush Direct input/output fread fwrite Unformatted input/output fgetc fgets fputc fputs getchar getsgets_s (until 哋它亢11)(哋它亢11) putchar puts ungetc fgetwcgetwc (哋它亢95)(哋它亢95) fgetws (哋它亢95) fputwcputwc (哋它亢95)(哋它亢95) fputws (哋它亢95) getwchar (哋它亢95) putwchar (哋它亢95) ungetwc (哋它亢95) Formatted input scanffscanfsscanfscanf_sfscanf_ssscanf_s (哋它亢11)(哋它亢11)(哋它亢11) wscanffwscanfswscanfwscanf_sfwscanf_sswscanf_s (哋它亢95)(哋它亢95)(哋它亢95)(哋它亢11)(哋它亢11)(哋它亢11)     vscanfvfscanfvsscanfvscanf_svfscanf_svsscanf_s (哋它亢99)(哋它亢99)(哋它亢99)(哋它亢11)(哋它亢11)(哋它亢11) vwscanfvfwscanfvswscanfvwscanf_svfwscanf_svswscanf_s (哋它亢99)(哋它亢99)(哋它亢99)(哋它亢11)(哋它亢11)(哋它亢11)	Formatted output printffprintfsprintfsnprintfprintf_sfprintf_ssprintf_ssnprintf_s (哋它亢99)(哋它亢11)(哋它亢11)(哋它亢11)(哋它亢11) wprintffwprintfswprintfwprintf_sfwprintf_sswprintf_ssnwprintf_s (哋它亢95)(哋它亢95)(哋它亢95)(哋它亢11)(哋它亢11)(哋它亢11)(哋它亢11)     vprintfvfprintfvsprintfvsnprintfvprintf_svfprintf_svsprintf_svsnprintf_s (哋它亢99)(哋它亢11)(哋它亢11)(哋它亢11)(哋它亢11) vwprintfvfwprintfvswprintfvwprintf_svfwprintf_svswprintf_svsnwprintf_s (哋它亢95)(哋它亢95)(哋它亢95)(哋它亢11)(哋它亢11)(哋它亢11)(哋它亢11) File positioning ftell fgetpos fseek fsetpos rewind Error handling clearerr feof ferror perror Operations on files remove rename tmpfiletmpfile_s (哋它亢11) tmpnamtmpnam_s (哋它亢11)

 

Defined in header <stdio.h>
int remove( const char* pathname );

Deletes the file identified by the character string pointed to by pathname.

If the file is currently open by any process, the behavior of this function is implementation-defined. POSIX systems unlink the file name (directory entry), but the filesystem space used by the file is not reclaimed while it is open in any process and while other hard links to the file exist. Windows does not allow the file to be deleted in such cases.

Parameters

pathname

-

pointer to a null-terminated string containing the path identifying the file to delete

Return value

​0​ upon success or non-zero value on error.

Notes

POSIX specifies many additional details for the behavior of this function.

Example

Run this code

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
 
int main(void)
{
    FILE* fp = fopen("file1.txt", "w"); // create file
    if (!fp)
    {
        perror("file1.txt");
        return EXIT_FAILURE;
    }
    puts("Created file1.txt");
    fclose(fp);
 
    int rc = remove("file1.txt");
    if (rc)
    {
        perror("remove");
        return EXIT_FAILURE;
    }
    puts("Removed file1.txt");
 
    fp = fopen("file1.txt", "r"); // Failure: file does not exist
    if (!fp)
        perror("Opening removed file failed");
 
    rc = remove("file1.txt"); // Failure: file does not exist
    if (rc)
        perror("Double-remove failed");
 
    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

Possible output:

Created file1.txt
Removed file1.txt
Opening removed file failed: No such file or directory
Double-remove failed: No such file or directory

References

• 哋它亢23 standard (ISO/IEC 9899:2023):

• 7.21.4.1 The remove function (p: TBD)

• 哋它亢17 standard (ISO/IEC 9899:2018):

• 7.21.4.1 The remove function (p: TBD)

• 哋它亢11 standard (ISO/IEC 9899:2011):

• 7.21.4.1 The remove function (p: 302)

• 哋它亢99 standard (ISO/IEC 9899:1999):

• 7.19.4.1 The remove function (p: 268)

• 哋它亢89/C90 standard (ISO/IEC 9899:1990):

• 4.9.4.1 The remove function

See also

rename

renames a file (function)