PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor (original) (raw)
unlink
(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)
unlink — Deletes a file
Description
Parameters
filename
Path to the file.
If the file is a symlink, the symlink will be deleted. On Windows, to delete a symlink to a directory, rmdir() has to be used instead.
context
Return Values
Returns [true](reserved.constants.php#constant.true) on success or [false](reserved.constants.php#constant.false) on failure.
Changelog
| Version | Description |
|---|---|
| 7.3.0 | On Windows, it is now possible to unlink() files with handles in use, while formerly that would fail. However, it is still not possible to re-create the unlinked file, until all handles to it have been closed. |
Examples
Example #1 Basic unlink() usage
<?php $fh = fopen('test.html', 'a'); fwrite($fh, '<h1>Hello world!</h1>'); fclose($fh);unlink('test.html'); ?>
See Also
- rmdir() - Removes directory
Found A Problem?
12 years ago
`This will delete all files in a directory matching a pattern in one line of code.
`
dexen dot devries at gmail dot com ¶
14 years ago
The unlink() is not about removing file, it's about removing a file name. The manpage says: ``unlink - delete a name and possibly the file it refers to''.
Most of the time a file has just one name -- removing it will also remove (free, deallocate) the `body' of file (with one caveat, see below). That's the simple, usual case.
However, it's perfectly fine for a file to have several names (see the link() function), in the same or different directories. All the names will refer to the file body and `keep it alive', so to say. Only when all the names are removed, the body of file actually is freed.
The caveat:
A file's body may *also* be `kept alive' (still using diskspace) by a process holding the file open. The body will not be deallocated (will not free disk space) as long as the process holds it open. In fact, there's a fancy way of resurrecting a file removed by a mistake but still held open by a process...
11 years ago
`unlink($fileName); failed for me .
Then i tried using the realpath($fileName) function as
unlink(realpath($fileName)); it worked
just posting it , in case if any one finds it useful .
`
federico at poisonfx dot com ¶
14 years ago
`Here the simplest way to delete files with mask
`
16 years ago
`I have been working on some little tryout where a backup file was created before modifying the main textfile. Then when an error is thrown, the main file will be deleted (unlinked) and the backup file is returned instead.
Though, I have been breaking my head for about an hour on why I couldn't get my persmissions right to unlink the main file.
Finally I knew what was wrong: because I was working on the file and hadn't yet closed the file, it was still in use and ofcourse couldn't be deleted :)
So I thought of mentoining this here, to avoid others of making the same mistake:
`
chris at vibenewmedia dot com ¶
20 years ago
`To delete all files of a particular extension, or infact, delete all with wildcard, a much simplar way is to use the glob function. Say I wanted to delete all jpgs .........
`
16 years ago
`To anyone who's had a problem with the permissions denied error, it's sometimes caused when you try to delete a file that's in a folder higher in the hierarchy to your working directory (i.e. when trying to delete a path that starts with "../").
So to work around this problem, you can use chdir() to change the working directory to the folder where the file you want to unlink is located.
`
10 years ago
This might seem obvious, but I was tearing my hair out with this problem - make sure the file you're trying to delete isn't currently being used. I had a script that was parsing a text file and was supposed to delete it after completing, but kept getting a permission denied error because I hadn't explicitly closed the file, hence it was technically still being "used" even though the parsing was complete.