What is the difference between unlink() and unset() in PHP?

unlink() deletes a file from the file system. unset() removes a variable from memory. They do very different jobs.

unlink()	unset()
Deletes a file from the server	Destroys a variable
Takes the file name or path	Takes the variable
Returns true or false	Returns nothing
The file is gone for ever	Only the variable becomes undefined

<?php
$file = "notes.txt";
file_put_contents($file, "Hello");   // create a file

unlink($file);
echo file_exists($file) ? "File exists<br>" : "File deleted<br>";

$name = "Robin";
unset($name);
var_dump(isset($name));
?>

Output:

Be careful with unlink(), a deleted file can not be taken back. Never pass a file name that comes from user input without checking it.

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