bpo-33123: pathlib: Add missing_ok parameter to Path.unlink (GH-6191)

Similarly to how several pathlib file creation functions have an "exists_ok" parameter, we should introduce "missing_ok" that makes removal functions not raise an exception when a file or directory is already absent.  IMHO, this should cover Path.unlink and Path.rmdir.  Note, Path.resolve() has a "strict" parameter since 3.6 that does the same thing. Naming this of this new parameter tries to be consistent with the "exists_ok" parameter as that is more explicit about what it does (as opposed to "strict").


https://bugs.python.org/issue33123

1 files changed, 10 insertions, 1 deletions

diff --git a/Doc/library/pathlib.rst b/Doc/library/pathlib.rst
index 41aebc4..166de8d 100644
--- a/Doc/library/pathlib.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/pathlib.rst
@@ -1048,11 +1048,20 @@ call fails (for example because the path doesn't exist).
    otherwise :exc:`FileExistsError` is raised.
 
 
-.. method:: Path.unlink()
+.. method:: Path.unlink(missing_ok=False)
 
    Remove this file or symbolic link.  If the path points to a directory,
    use :func:`Path.rmdir` instead.
 
+   If *missing_ok* is false (the default), :exc:`FileNotFoundError` is
+   raised if the path does not exist.
+
+   If *missing_ok* is true, :exc:`FileNotFoundError` exceptions will be
+   ignored (same behavior as the POSIX ``rm -f`` command).
+
+   .. versionchanged:: 3.8
+      The *missing_ok* parameter was added.
+
 
 .. method:: Path.link_to(target)