The unlink Function
The unlink function deletes a file at the specified path.
The function returns true upon successful deletion
and false in case of an error. It accepts a string
with the file path as a parameter.
Syntax
unlink(filename);
Example
Let's delete the file test.txt in the current directory:
<?php
$res = unlink('test.txt');
var_dump($res);
?>
Code execution result:
true
Example
Let's try to delete a non-existent file:
<?php
$res = unlink('nonexistent.txt');
var_dump($res);
?>
Code execution result:
false
Example
Deleting a file with a check for its existence:
<?php
$file = 'data.txt';
if (file_exists($file)) {
$res = unlink($file);
echo $res ? 'File deleted' : 'Delete error';
} else {
echo 'File not found';
}
?>
See Also
-
the
rmdirfunction,
which deletes a directory -
the
file_existsfunction,
which checks for the existence of a file -
the
is_writablefunction,
which checks write permissions
