VB & VBA in a Nutshell: The Language

Kill Statement

Named Arguments

No

Syntax

Kill pathname

pathname

Use: Required

Data Type: String

The file or files to be deleted.

Description

Deletes a file from disk.

Rules at a Glance

• If pathname doesn't include a drive letter, the folder and file are assumed to be on the current drive.

• If pathname doesn't 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 is generated.

Programming Tips and Gotchas

• Note that in the Windows 95 and NT environments, the deleted file isn't 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 95 Recycle Bin or the NT4 Recycler:

  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 terminating string ...