unlink
PHP function
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(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)
Deletes a file
Description
unlink(string $filename, resource|null $context = null): bool
Deletes filename. Similar to the Unix C unlink() function. An E_WARNING level error will be generated on failure.
Parameters
filenamePath 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.contextContext-support
Return Values
Success
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
Basic unlink() usage
php
<?php
$fh = fopen('test.html', 'a');
fwrite($fh, '<h1>Hello world!</h1>');
fclose($fh);
unlink('test.html');
?>