.\" .\" Copyright (c) 2004 Apple Computer, Inc. All rights reserved. .\" .\" @APPLE_LICENSE_HEADER_START@ .\" .\" This file contains Original Code and/or Modifications of Original Code .\" as defined in and that are subject to the Apple Public Source License .\" Version 2.0 (the 'License'). You may not use this file except in .\" compliance with the License. Please obtain a copy of the License at .\" http://www.opensource.apple.com/apsl/ and read it before using this .\" file. .\" .\" The Original Code and all software distributed under the License are .\" distributed on an 'AS IS' basis, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER .\" EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AND APPLE HEREBY DISCLAIMS ALL SUCH WARRANTIES, .\" INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, .\" FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, QUIET ENJOYMENT OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. .\" Please see the License for the specific language governing rights and .\" limitations under the License. .\" .\" @APPLE_LICENSE_HEADER_END@ .\" .Dd Oct 19, 2004 .Dt REMOVEXATTR 2 .Os "Mac OS X" .Sh NAME .Nm removexattr, .Nm fremovexattr .Nd remove an extended attribute value .Sh SYNOPSIS .Fd #include <sys/xattr.h> .Ft int .Fn removexattr "const char *path" "const char *name" "int options" .Ft int .Fn fremovexattr "int fd" "const char *name" "int options" .Sh DESCRIPTION Extended attributes extend the basic attributes associated with files and directories in the file system. They are stored as name:data pairs associated with file system objects (files, directories, symlinks, etc). .Pp .Fn Removexattr deletes the extended attribute .Fa name associated with .Fa path . .Pp An extended attribute's .Fa name is a simple NULL-terminated UTF-8 string. .Fa Options is a bit mask specifying various options: .Pp .Bl -tag -width XATTR_NOFOLLOW .It Dv XATTR_NOFOLLOW do not follow symbolic links. Normally, .Fn removexattr acts on the target of .Fa path if it is a symbolic link. With this option, .Fn removexattr will act on the link itself. .It Dv XATTR_SHOWCOMPRESSION .Fn removexattr and .Fn fremovexattr will remove HFS Plus Compression extended attribute .Fa name (if present) for the file referred to by .Fa path or .Fa fd . .El .Pp .Fn fremovexattr is identical to .Fn removexattr , except that it removes an extended attribute from an open file referenced by file descriptor .Fa fd . .Sh RETURN VALUES On success, 0 is returned. On failure, -1 is returned and the global variable .Va errno is set as follows. .Sh ERRORS .Bl -tag -width Er .It Bq Er ENOATTR The specified extended attribute does not exist. .It Bq Er ENOTSUP The file system does not support extended attributes or has the feature disabled. .It Bq Er EROFS The file system is mounted read-only. .It Bq Er EPERM This type of object does not support extended attributes. .It Bq Er EINVAL .Fa name or .Fa options is invalid. .Fa name must be valid UTF-8 .Fa options must make sense. .It Bq Er ENOTDIR A component of the .Fa path 's prefix is not a directory. .It Bq Er ENAMETOOLONG .Fa Name exceeded .Dv XATTR_MAXNAMELEN UTF-8 bytes, or a component of .Fa path exceeded .Dv NAME_MAX characters, or the entire .Fa path exceeded .Dv PATH_MAX characters. .It Bq Er EACCES Search permission is denied for a component .Fa path or permission to remove the attribute is denied. .It Bq Er ELOOP Too many symbolic links were encountered in .Fa path . .It Bq Er EFAULT .Fa path or .Fa name points to an invalid address. .It Bq Er EIO An I/O error occurred while reading from or writing to the file system. .El .Sh SEE ALSO .Xr getxattr 2 , .Xr listxattr 2 , .Xr setxattr 2 .Sh HISTORY .Fn removexattr and .Fn fremovexattr first appeared in Mac OS X 10.4.