&FILE DEL

Verbs and Built-in Functions › &FILE DEL

&FILE DEL

The &FILE DEL verb deletes file records.

This verb has the following format:

&FILE DEL ID=fileid
        [ KEY=key | KEYVAR=keyvar ]
        [ GENLEN=nn ]
        [ OPT={ KEQALL | KGEALL } ]

Operands:

ID=fileid

(Mandatory) Identifies the file being deleted and sets this file to be the current fileid.

KEY=key

Nominates the full key value to be set for the file. The key value (after substitution) is in one of several forms:

An unquoted character string (no imbedded blanks). For example:
```
01SMITH
```
For unquoted strings the key should consist of displayable characters only, and is delimited by the first blank.
A quoted character string, for example:
```
'01SMITH J.'   “03JONES PETER A”    “LU A0123BC2”C 'A. B. O''MALLEY'C
```
The usual quote rules apply. Either single quotes (') or double quotes (”) are acceptable. Quotes must be paired and of the same type. A double quote is treated as a single quotation character when included within a string.
A quoted hexadecimal character string. for example:
```
'0012001F'X
```
```
“0123456789ABCDEF”X
```

If there are no characters following the closing quote, a character string is assumed. If a single character follows the closing quote then it must be either 'C' (designating a character string), or 'X' (designating a hexadecimal string). For quoted hexadecimal strings, all characters must be valid hexadecimal characters (that is, 0-9, A-F).

It is the user's responsibility to understand the file key structure and determine which form of key designation is most appropriate.

Note: The &ZQUOTE built-in function can assist when building quoted strings, and that the KEYVAR operand provides a suitable alternative.

KEYVAR=keyvar

Provides an alternative way to nominate the full key value. keyvar is the name of a user or system variable, the contents of which are taken unchanged as the key value for the file set operation. There is no need to code the ampersand (&)—if the ampersand is coded, then the contents of the variable specified are assumed to contain the name of the variable containing the key.

If both KEY and KEYVAR are omitted, the current file key value is assumed.

GENLEN=nn

This operand is used to set the desired generic key length independently of the key value. If the length of the key provided is shorter than the value of GENLEN, then the length of the key is the effective GENLEN. This length is used for a generic delete (KEQALL) request.

OPT={KEQALL | KGEALL}

Either one of these operands is used to specify the delete option:

KEQALL: Specifies that a series or generic set of records is to be deleted. A partial key is specified by the &FILE DEL statement. All records that start with this partial key are deleted. After processing, the system variable &FILERCNT contains the number of records deleted by this statement.
KGEALL: Specifies that all records starting from the already-named partial key to the end of the UDB, are to be deleted. After processing, the system variable &FILERCNT contains the number of records deleted by this statement.

Return Codes:

On completion of the operation, the &FILERC system variable is set as follows:

0: Records deleted successfully
4: Record not found
8: Error during processing of delete request
16: NCL or Mapping Services processing error. Check &SYSMSG for details.

Check &SYSMSG for details. The &VSAMFDBK system variable contains the VSAM completion code. For &FILERC=8, the &VSAMFDBK system variable is tested to determine the cause of the error. These error codes are explained in detail in your VSAM documentation. The &VSAMFDBK variable is always returned as a 2-character value.

The &SYSMSG variable can also be set to contain error message details.

More information:

&FILE