User`s guide

DELETE
you to use the /SYSTEM option when you need to delete system files and you use
wildcards in an input file type. However, if you specify SYS as an input file type, you
do not have to specify the /SYSTEM option. To delete a BAD file, you must specify
it by explicitly giving its file name and file type. However, since BAD files cover bad
blocks on a device, you should not delete or otherwise manipulate these files.
Deleting Protected Files
To delete a protected file (a P next to the block size of a file’s directory entry
denotes protection), you must first remove protection from that file by using the
UNPROTECT command, the COPY/NOPROTECTION command, or the RENAME
/NOPROTECTION command.
Confirming a Deletion
Another feature of the DELETE command is that, unless you use /LOG or
/NOQUERY, RT–11 requests confirmation from you before it deletes a file, if you
use wildcards in the input specification. You must respond to the query message by
typing Y
RETURN
to execute the command.
Specifying a Date with a DELETE Command
Some of the DELETE command options accept a date as an argument. The format
for specifying the date is:
[dd][:mmm][:yy]
where:
dd specifies the day (a decimal integer in the range 1–31).
mmm specifies the first three characters of the name of the month.
yy specifies the year (a decimal integer in the range 73–99).
The default value for the date is the current system date. If you omit any of these
values (dd, mmm, or yy), the system uses the values from the current system date.
For example, if you specify only the year 90 and the current system date is May
4, 1991, the system uses the date 4:MAY:90. If the current date is not set, it is
considered 0 (the same as for an undated file in a directory listing).
If you have selected timer support through the system generation process, but have
not selected automatic end-of-month date advancement, make sure that you set the
date at the beginning of each month with the DATE command. If you fail to set
the date at the beginning of each month, RT–11 displays -BAD- in the creation date
column of each file created beyond the end-of-month. (Note that you can eliminate
-BAD- by using the RENAME/SETDATE command after you set the date.)
Options
/BEFORE[:date]
Deletes only those files created before a certain date. If you specify no date the
current system date is used.
66 RT–11 Command Descriptions