Kill Procedure

Kill Procedure

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Class

Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileSystem

Syntax

 Kill(   pathname   ) 

pathname (required; String)

The file or files to be deleted

Description

Deletes a file from disk

Rules at a Glance

• If pathname does not include a drive letter, the folder and file are assumed to be on the current drive.

• If pathname does not include a folder name , the file is assumed to be in the current folder.

• You can use the multiple-character (*) and single-character (?) wildcards to specify multiple files to delete.

• If the file is open or is set to read only, an error will be generated.

Programming Tips and Gotchas

• Note that the deleted file is not placed in the Recycle Bin. However, the following code demonstrates how to use the FileOperation API found in Shell32.DLL to move a file to the Windows Recycle Bin:

   Option Explicit 'declare the file operation structure Type SHFILEOPSTRUCT     hWnd As Long     wFunction As Long     pFrom As String     pTo As String     fFlags As Integer     fAborted As Boolean     hNameMaps As Long     sProgress As String End Type 'declare two constants needed for the delete operation Private Const FO_DELETE = &H3 Private Const FO_FLAG_ALLOWUNDO = &H40 'declare the API call function Declare Function SHFileOperation Lib "shell32.dll" _           Alias "SHFileOperationA" _           (lpFileOp As SHFILEOPSTRUCT) As Long Public Function WinDelete(sFileName As String) As Long     'create a copy of the file operation structure     Dim SHFileOp As SHFILEOPSTRUCT     'need a Null terminated string     sFileName = sFileName & vbNullChar          'assign relevant values to structure     With SHFileOp         .wFunction = FO_DELETE         .pFrom = sFileName         .fFlags = FO_FLAG_ALLOWUNDO     End With          'pass the structure to the API function     WinDelete = SHFileOperation(SHFileOp) End Function 

• Use the RmDir procedure to delete folders.

See Also

RmDir Procedure