V1/man/man2/unlink.2

        11/3/71                                                 SYS UNLINK (II)


NAME              unlink -- remove directory entry

SYNOPSIS          sys        unlink; name      / unlink = 10.

DESCRIPTION       Name points to a null--terminated string. Unlink removes the entry for
                  the file pointed to by name from its directory. If this entry was the
                  last link to the file, the contents of the file are freed and the
                  file is destroyed. If, however, the file was open in any process, the
                  actual destruction is delayed until it is closed, even though the
                  directory entry has disappeared.

FILES
SEE ALSO          link

DIAGNOSTICS       The error bit (c--bit) is set to indicate that the file does not exist
                  or that its directory cannot be written. Write permission is not
                  required on the file itself. It is also illegal to unlink a directory
                  (except for the super--user).

BUGS              Probably write permission should be required to remove the last link
                  to a file, but this gets in other problems (namely, one can donate an
                  undeletable file to someone else).

                  If the system crashes while a file is waiting to be deleted because
                  it is open, the space is lost.

OWNER             ken, dmr