remove, _wremove

Delete a file.

Syntax

int remove(
   const char *path
);
int _wremove(
   const wchar_t *path
);

Parameters

path
Path of file to be removed.

Return value

Each of these functions returns 0 if the file is successfully deleted. Otherwise, it returns -1 and sets errno either to EACCES to indicate that the path specifies a read-only file, specifies a directory, or the file is open, or to ENOENT to indicate that the filename or path wasn't found.

For more information about return codes, see errno, _doserrno, _sys_errlist, and _sys_nerr.

Remarks

The remove function deletes the file specified by path. _wremove is a wide-character version of _remove; the path argument to _wremove is a wide-character string. _wremove and _remove behave identically otherwise. All handles to a file must be closed before it can be deleted.

By default, this function's global state is scoped to the application. To change this behavior, see Global state in the CRT.

Generic-text routine mappings

Requirements

For more compatibility information, see Compatibility.

Libraries

All versions of the C run-time libraries.

Example

// crt_remove.c
/* This program uses remove to delete crt_remove.txt */

#include <stdio.h>

int main( void )
{
   if( remove( "crt_remove.txt" ) == -1 )
      perror( "Could not delete 'CRT_REMOVE.TXT'" );
   else
      printf( "Deleted 'CRT_REMOVE.TXT'\n" );
}

Input: crt_remove.txt

This file will be deleted.

Sample output

Deleted 'CRT_REMOVE.TXT'

See also

File handling
_unlink, _wunlink