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C program to remove a specified empty directory using the remove() function

Here, we are going to learn how to remove a specified empty directory using the remove() function in C programming language?
By Nidhi Last updated : March 10, 2024

Problem statement

In this program, we will remove a specified empty directory using the remove() function. Here, we will read the name of an empty directory. Then we will delete the given empty directory and print the appropriate message on the console screen.

C program to remove a specified empty directory

The source code to remove a specified empty directory using the remove() function is given below. The given program is compiled and executed using GCC compile on UBUNTU 18.04 OS successfully.

// C program to remove a specified empty directory
// using the remove() function

#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
    char dirName[16];
    int ret = 0;

    printf("Enter directory name: ");
    scanf("%s", dirName);

    ret = remove(dirName);
    if (ret == 0)
        printf("Specified empty directory deleted successfully\n");
    else
        printf("Unable to delete directory %s\n", dirName);

    return 0;
}

Output

RUN 1:
Enter directory name: image
Specified empty directory deleted successfully

RUN 2:
Enter directory name: hello
Unable to delete directory hello

Explanation

In the main() function, we created a character array dirName. Then we read the name of the directory from the user. And, removed the empty directory using the remove() function. The remove() returns 0 on successful deletion. After that, we printed the appropriate message on the console screen.

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