unlink vs remove in c++

c++ unix posix erase
SyBer picture SyBer · Feb 3, 2010 · Viewed 37.9k times · Source

What is the difference between remove and unlink functions in C++?

Answer

Kornel Kisielewicz picture Kornel Kisielewicz · Feb 3, 2010

Apart from the fact that unlink is unix-specific (as pointed out by Chris), we read in the POSIX manual:

If path does not name a directory, remove(path) is equivalent to unlink(path). If path names a directory, remove(path) is equivalent to rmdir(path).

As for the directory-passed unlink, we read:

The path argument must not name a directory unless the process has appropriate privileges and the implementation supports using unlink() on directories. (...) Applications should use rmdir() to remove a directory.

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