KILL Statement
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 Action

 Deletes files from a disk.


 Syntax



  KILL  filespec$


 Remarks


 The  KILL statement is similar to the DOS ERASE or DEL command.

  KILL is used for all types of disk files. program files, random-access data
 files, and sequential data files. The  filespec$ is a string expression that
 can contain a path and question marks (?) or asterisks (*) used as DOS
 wildcards. A question mark matches any single character in the filename or
 extension. An asterisk matches one or more characters.

  KILL deletes files only. To delete directories, use the DOS RMDIR command
 or BASIC  RMDIR statement. Using  KILL to delete a file that is currently
 open produces an error message that reads  File already open.


 Warning

 Be extremely careful when using wildcards with  KILL. You can delete files
 unintentionally with the wildcard characters.


 See Also

  FILES,  RMDIR


 Examples

 The first example uses wildcard characters with  KILL. It will not work
 properly unless the specified files are found.

 KILL "DATA1?.DAT" ' Kills any file with a six-character

 ' base name starting with DATA1 and

 ' also with the extension .DAT.



 KILL "DATA1.*"' Kills any file with the base name

 ' DATA1 and any extension.



 KILL "\GREG\*.DAT"' Kills any file with the extension

 ' .DAT in a subdirectory called GREG.



 The following example deletes the file specified on the command line.


 DEFINT A-Z

 CLS    ' Clear screen.

 ON ERROR GOTO Errorhandle' Set up error handling.

 FileName$ = COMMAND$ ' Get filename.

 KILL FileName$

 PRINT FileName$ " deleted"

 END



 Errorhandle.

     Number = ERR

     IF Number = 53 THEN

        PRINT "Couldn't delete " FileName$ ;

        PRINT "; file does not exist in current directory"

     ELSE

        PRINT "Unrecoverable error.";Number

        ON ERROR GOTO 0 ' ON ERROR GOTO zero aborts program.

     END IF

 RESUME NEXT