Erases a file from a disk.

DELETE FILE [FileName | ?] [RECYCLE]

Parameters

FileName

Specifies the file to delete.

Tip
FileName can contain wildcard characters such as * and ?. For example, to delete backup files with the extension .bak in the current directory, issue DELETE FILE *.BAK. If FileName contains spaces, enclose the entire file name in quotes.

?

Displays the Delete dialog box so you can choose a file to delete.

RECYCLE

Specifies that the file is not immediately deleted from disk and is placed in the Windows Recycle Bin.

Caution
Any file deleted with this command cannot be retrieved. Even when the SET SAFETY command is set to ON, you are not warned before the file is deleted.

Remarks

Example

In the following example, the structure of Customer.dbf and all records in which the country equals USA are copied to a table named backup. The data in backup is then copied to a text file, temp, which is opened and then deleted once closed.

	Copy Code
CLOSE DATABASES OPEN DATABASE (HOME(2) + 'Data\testdata') USE customer && Opens Customer table COPY STRUCTURE TO backup USE backup APPEND FROM customer FOR country = 'USA' COPY TO temp TYPE DELIMITED WAIT WINDOW 'Press Esc to close and erase temp.txt' NOWAIT MODIFY FILE temp.txt NOEDIT DELETE FILE temp.txt ? IIF(FILE('temp.txt'),'File not deleted','File deleted') USE DELETE FILE backup.dbf

See Also