rmdir-wrmdir.md

description	Learn more about: _rmdir, _wrmdir
title	_rmdir, _wrmdir
ms.date	4/2/2020
api_name	_wrmdir _rmdir _o__rmdir _o__wrmdir
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api_type	DLLExport
topic_type	apiref
f1_keywords	trmdir _trmdir wrmdir _rmdir _wrmdir
helpviewer_keywords	_rmdir function directories [C++], deleting rmdir function directories [C++], removing trmdir function _trmdir function _wrmdir function wrmdir function
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_rmdir, _wrmdir

Deletes a directory.

Syntax

int _rmdir(
   const char *dirname
);
int _wrmdir(
   const wchar_t *dirname
);

Parameters

dirname
Path of the directory to be removed.

Return value

Each of these functions returns 0 if the directory is successfully deleted. A return value of -1 indicates an error and errno is set to one of the following values:

errno value	Condition
ENOTEMPTY	Given path isn't a directory, the directory isn't empty, or the directory is either the current working directory or the root directory.
ENOENT	Path is invalid.
EACCES	A program has an open handle to the directory.

For more information about these and other return codes, see errno, _doserrno, _sys_errlist, and _sys_nerr.

Remarks

The _rmdir function deletes the directory specified by dirname. The directory must be empty, and it must not be the current working directory or the root directory.

_wrmdir is a wide-character version of _rmdir; the dirname argument to _wrmdir is a wide-character string. _wrmdir and _rmdir behave identically otherwise.

By default, this function's global state is scoped to the application. To change this behavior, see Global state in the CRT.

Generic-text routine mappings

Tchar.h routine	_UNICODE and _MBCS not defined	_MBCS defined	_UNICODE defined
_trmdir	_rmdir	_rmdir	_wrmdir

Requirements

Routine	Required header
_rmdir	<direct.h>
_wrmdir	<direct.h> or <wchar.h>

For more compatibility information, see Compatibility.

Libraries

All versions of the C run-time libraries.

Example

See the example for _mkdir.

See also

Directory control
_chdir, _wchdir
_mkdir, _wmkdir