DeleteFile

Delete a file, directory or link

This attempts to delete the file, directory or link specified by 'name'. Note that all the files, etc. stored within a directory must be deleted before the directory itself can be deleted.

name

Pointer to a null-terminated string

success

Boolean. FALSE indicates failure; call IoErr() to find out why the deletion failed.

The Amiga ROM file system as well as the RAM: file system will truncate path and file names to the maximum supported length instead of rejecting an overly long name with an error. Hence, a file with the unlikely name of "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" (34 characters) may be considered identical to "supercalifragilisticexpialidoc" (30 characters).

There is a certain risk that trying to delete a file whose name exceeds the maximum name length will end up deleting the wrong file. For example, trying to delete "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.info" may end up deleting any existing file or directory which begins with the 30 character "short" "supercalifragilisticexpialidoc" name.

A possible workaround to detect the risk of deleting the wrong file involves the use of the SameLock() function. Begin by obtaining Locks on the "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.info" icon file and its associated "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" file. If these are distinct files, SameLock() will return LOCK_DIFFERENT. But if the result is LOCK_SAME you should consider asking the user to skip the deletion, and why.

A directory, file or link may be protected from deletion, as indicated by IoErr() returning ERROR_DELETE_PROTECTED. This protection would have to be removed before you can retry deleting it.

A directory, file or link protected against writing does not protect it from getting deleted.

IoErr(), SetProtection()