---
name: "io_uring_prep_unlink"
section: "3"
platform: "linux"
package: "liburing"
version: "2.15-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/io_uring_prep_unlink"
---

# io\_uring\_prep\_unlink(3)

prepare an unlinkat request

## NAME

io\_uring\_prep\_unlinkat - prepare an unlinkat request

## SYNOPSIS

```
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <liburing.h>
```

**void io\_uring\_prep\_unlinkat(struct io\_uring\_sqe \****sqe***,**                             **int** *dirfd***,**                             **const char \****path***,**                             **int** *flags***);**

**void io\_uring\_prep\_unlink(struct io\_uring\_sqe \****sqe***,**                           **const char \****path***,**                           **int** *flags***);**

## DESCRIPTION

The [**io\_uring\_prep\_unlinkat**(3)](/io_uring_prep_unlinkat/3.md) function prepares an unlinkat request. The submission queue entry *sqe* is setup to use the directory file descriptor pointed to by *dirfd* to start an unlinkat operation on the path identified by *path* and using the flags given in *flags*.

The [**io\_uring\_prep\_unlink**(3)](/io_uring_prep_unlink/3.md) function prepares an unlink request. The submission queue entry *sqe* is setup to start an unlinkat operation on the path identified by *path* relative to the current working directory and using the flags given in *flags*.

These functions prepare an async [**unlinkat**(2)](/unlinkat/2.md) or [**unlink**(2)](/unlink/2.md) request. See those man pages for details.

## RETURN VALUE

None

## ERRORS

The CQE *res* field will contain the result of the operation. See the related man page for details on possible values. Note that where synchronous system calls will return **-1** on failure and set *errno* to the actual error value, io\_uring never uses *errno*. Instead it returns the negated *errno* directly in the CQE *res* field.

## NOTES

As with any request that passes in data in a struct, that data must remain valid until the request has been successfully submitted. It need not remain valid until completion. Once a request has been submitted, the in-kernel state is stable. Very early kernels (5.4 and earlier) required state to be stable until the completion occurred. Applications can test for this behavior by inspecting the **IORING\_FEAT\_SUBMIT\_STABLE** flag passed back from [**io\_uring\_queue\_init\_params**(3)](/io_uring_queue_init_params/3.md).

## SEE ALSO

[**io\_uring\_get\_sqe**(3)](/io_uring_get_sqe/3.md), [**io\_uring\_submit**(3)](/io_uring_submit/3.md), [**unlinkat**(2)](/unlinkat/2.md), [**unlink**(2)](/unlink/2.md)