Syntax

Kill filespec$

Description

Deletes all files matching filespec$.

Comments

The filespec$ argument can include wildcards, such as * and ?. The * character matches any sequence of zero or more characters, whereas the ? character matches any single character. Multiple *'s and ?'s can appear within the expression to form complex searching patterns. The following table shows some examples.

This Pattern

Matches these Files

Doesn't match these Files

*S*.TXT

SAMPLE.TXT
GOOSE.TXT
SAMS.TXT

SAMPLE
SAMPLE.DAT

C*T.TXT

CAT.TXT

CAP.TXT
ACATS.TXT

C*T

CAT

CAT.DOC
CAP.TXT

C?T

CAT
CUT

CAT.TXT
CAPIT
CT

*

(All files)

Example

This example looks to see whether file test1.dat exists. If it does not, then it creates both test1.dat and test2.dat. The existence of the files is tested again; if they exist, a message is generated, and then they are deleted. The final test looks to see whether they are still there and displays the result.

Sub Main()
  If Not FileExists("test1.dat") Then
    Open "test1.dat" For Output As #1
    Open "test2.dat" For Output As #2
    Close
  End If

  If FileExists ("test1.dat") Then
    MsgBox "File test1.dat exists."
    Kill "test?.dat"
  End If

  If FileExists ("test1.dat") Then
    MsgBox "File test1.dat still exists."
  Else
    MsgBox "test?.dat successfully deleted."
  End If
End Sub

See Also

Name (statement).

K