Share via


remove, _wremove

Delete a file.

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 or the file is open, or to ENOENT to indicate that the filename or path was not found or that the path specifies a directory.

See _doserrno, errno, _sys_errlist, and _sys_nerr for more information on these and other return codes.

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.

Generic-Text Routine Mappings

TCHAR.H routine

_UNICODE & _MBCS not defined

_MBCS defined

_UNICODE defined

_tremove

remove

remove

_wremove

Requirements

Routine

Required header

remove

<stdio.h> or <io.h>

_wremove

<stdio.h> or <wchar.h>

For additional compatibility information, see Compatibility in the Introduction.

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'

.NET Framework Equivalent

System::IO::File::Delete

See Also

Reference

File Handling

_unlink, _wunlink