I still don't think that's right, at least for my system, running Linux.  It might be somehow different because you're using a ramdisk, but when I run this program: 
#!/usr/bin/perl -w
                                                                      
+          
my $iam = $0;
my $lscmd = "ls -lt $iam";
my $dfcmd = "df --block-size=1 .";
                                                                      
+          
printf "Before remove\n"; system($lscmd); system($dfcmd);    sleep 1;
unlink $0;
printf " After remove\n"; system($lscmd); system($dfcmd);    sleep 1;
printf "Try ^Z to see for yourself (cmd:  $dfcmd) ...\n"; sleep 5;
printf "Now exiting the program\n";

[download]
it clearly shows that the space is freed up *before* the program exits.  The free space goes from 44290686976 bytes to 44290691072 (a difference of 4096 bytes) and remains at that value until after the program completes.   
[liverpole@golux ~/perl]% chmod +x rmtest2
[liverpole@golux ~/perl]% ls -lt rmtest2
-rwxrwxr-x    1 liverpole  liverpole       352 Oct  7 12:25 rmtest2*
[liverpole@golux ~/perl]% rmtest2
Before remove
-rwxrwxr-x    1 liverpole  liverpole       352 Oct  7 12:25 rmtest2
Filesystem            1-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/hda2            77584592896 29352763392 44290686976  40% /
 After remove
ls: rmtest2: No such file or directory
Filesystem            1-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/hda2            77584592896 29352759296 44290691072  40% /
Try ^Z to see for yourself (cmd:  df --block-size=1 .) ...
 
Suspended
[liverpole@golux ~/perl]% ls -lt rmtest2
ls: rmtest2: No such file or directory
[liverpole@golux ~/perl]% df --block-size=1 .
Filesystem            1-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/hda2            77584592896 29352759296 44290691072  40% /
[liverpole@golux ~/perl]% fg
rmtest2
Now exiting the program
[liverpole@golux ~/perl]% df --block-size=1 .
Filesystem            1-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/hda2            77584592896 29352759296 44290691072  40% /

[download]

In reply to Re^4: Deleting a file after it runs? by liverpole
in thread Deleting a file after it runs? by Spidy

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