remove / rename - glibc

Split from the chapter glibc: stdio and Formatted I/O into the per-function layout; see the method page and the glibc ledger for coverage status.

Signature – int remove(const char *filename); int rename(const char *old, const char *new); int renameat(int oldfd, const char *old, int newfd, const char *new);

Semantics – thin ISO C wrappers over the filesystem syscalls: remove calls unlink on files and rmdir on directories (manual comment, Deleting Files), dispatching on the path’s type; rename maps to rename(2)/renameat(2), renaming atomically: there is no instant at which new does not resolve, and if old and new are different names for the same file POSIX requires success-with-no-change (manual, Renaming Files). Directory rename semantics: a non-directory old never overwrites a directory and vice versa; a renamed directory may not be a subdirectory of its own destination. Both return 0 or -1 with errno (ENOENT, EEXIST/ENOTEMPTY, EXDEV for cross-device rename, EBUSY, …). For descriptor-level behavior and kernel versions see Descriptors and File I/O.