unlink

Remove file

$ unlink [file]

$ unlink [symlink]

unlink file

unlink removes a single file by directly calling the unlink(2) system call. It provides a minimal interface for file removal, accepting exactly one filename argument with no options for recursion, prompting, or force overwriting.
The command removes the directory entry for the specified file and decrements its link count. If no other hard links point to the same inode and no processes have the file open, the file's data is freed. For files with multiple hard links, only the specified link is removed while the data remains accessible through other links.
Unlike rm, unlink cannot remove directories and does not accept multiple files or glob patterns. This simplicity makes it predictable and safe for scripting where removing exactly one file is intended, with no risk of accidentally matching extra files through pattern expansion.

file

File to remove.

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Single file only. No recursive. Use rm for more features.

unlink is a standard Unix command that directly calls the unlink(2) system call to remove a directory entry.

rm(1), ln(1), unlink(2)