ERASE Command

Deletes a file from disk.

ERASE FileName | ? [RECYCLE]

Parameters

• FileName
  Specifies the file to be erased. Include the path with the file name if the file is on a different drive or directory from the current drive or directory.

  FileName can contain wildcard characters such as * and ?, for example, to erase backup files with ERASE *.BAK. If FileName contains spaces, enclose the entire file name in quotes.

• ?
  Displays the Delete dialog box, from which you can choose a file to erase.

• RECYCLE
  Specifies that the file is no't immediately deleted from disk, but rather placed in the Windows Recycle Bin.

Remarks

This command does not generate an error if the specified file does not exist.

The DELETE FILE command is the same as the ERASE command.

Example

In the following example, the structure of CUSTOMER.DBF and all records in which the country is 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 when it is closed.

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
ERASE temp.txt
? IIF(FILE('temp.txt'),'File not deleted','File deleted')
USE
ERASE backup.dbf

See Also

Reference

DELETE FILE Command

SET SAFETY Command

APPEND FROM Command

Other Resources

Commands (Visual FoxPro)