If you have problem using PHP unlink() function in CodeIgniter, I have a solution to it.
Below is the error you would most likely encounter: 
A PHP Error was encountered
 
Severity: Warning
 
Message: unlink() [function.unlink]: http does not allow unlinking
Apparently, it seem that we can’t delete the file directly with absolute path in CodeIgniter. (Example of absolute path is http//:….)
So in order to resolve this, we have to do the following: 
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//define the root directory of CodeIgniter
$path = "p_w_picpaths/" .$the_file_you_want_to_delete;
 
//from here, delete the file off using unlink
$result = unlink($path);
 
if($result){
$data['status'] = "File has been deleted successfully!";
}else{
$data['status'] = "There is a problem deleting the file!";
}
As you can see, unlinking the file using relative path works pretty fine and well.