User Guide

188 ActionScript language elements
The delete operator can fail and return false if the reference parameter does not exist or
cannot be deleted. You cannot delete predefined objects and properties, nor can you delete
variables that are declared within a function with the
var statement. You cannot use the
delete operator to remove movie clips.
Availability: ActionScript 1.0; Flash Lite 2.0
Returns
Boolean - A Boolean value.
Parameters
reference:Object - The name of the variable or object to eliminate.
Example
Usage 1: The following example creates an object, uses it, and deletes it after it is no longer
needed:
var account:Object = new Object();
account.name = "Jon";
account.balance = 10000;
trace(account.name); //output: Jon
delete account;
trace(account.name); //output: undefined
Usage 2: The following example deletes a property of an object:
// create the new object "account"
var account:Object = new Object();
// assign property name to the account
account.name = "Jon";
// delete the property
delete account.name;
Usage 3: The following example deletes an object property:
var my_array:Array = new Array();
my_array[0] = "abc"; // my_array.length == 1
my_array[1] = "def"; // my_array.length == 2
my_array[2] = "ghi"; // my_array.length == 3
// my_array[2] is deleted, but Array.length is not changed
delete my_array[2];
trace(my_array.length); // output: 3
trace(my_array); // output: abc,def,undefined