VMS Help CMS, DELETE, ELEMENT  *Conan The Librarian (sorry for the slow response - running on an old VAX)

    Deletes one or more elements from a CMS library.

       Format:

          DELETE ELEMENT  element-expression "remark"

1 - Restrictions

    o  You cannot delete an element that belongs to a group or has a
       generation in a class.

    o  You cannot delete an element that has a generation reserved.

    o  You cannot restore a deleted element.

    o  You cannot delete an element that has a generation under
       review.

2 - Command Parameters

 element-expression

    Specifies one or more elements that are to be deleted from the
    library. An element expression can be an element name, a wildcard
    expression, or a list of these separated by commas.

 remark

    Specifies a character string to be logged in the history file
    with this command, usually used to explain why the command was
    entered. The remark is enclosed in quotation marks. If no remark
    was entered, a null remark ("") is logged.

3 - Description

    The DELETE ELEMENT command deletes an element from a CMS library.
    If the element is set to /REFERENCE_COPY and there is a current
    reference copy directory for the CMS library, CMS deletes the
    corresponding file from the reference copy directory.

    There cannot be any existing reservations for the element.
    The element cannot be a member of a group, nor can one of its
    generations belong to a class, or be under review. If one of
    the element's generations is under review, use the CANCEL
    REVIEW command to remove it from the review list. If an element
    is reserved, you must unreserve or replace it before you can
    delete the element. If the element belongs to any groups or
    has generations in any classes, use the REMOVE ELEMENT or REMOVE
    GENERATION command to remove it.

    Even though an element is deleted, records of transactions that
    created and used the element are retained in the library history.
    You can reuse the deleted element name to create a new element.
    However, there is no distinction between the two elements in the
    library history, except that their transactions are separated by
    entries for DELETE ELEMENT and CREATE ELEMENT commands.

4 - Qualifiers

 4.1 - /CONFIRM (D)

    Controls whether CMS prompts you for confirmation before each
    transaction.

    When you run CMS in interactive mode, CMS prompts you for
    confirmation. If you type YES, ALL, TRUE, or 1, CMS executes the
    transaction. If you type NO or QUIT or press RETURN, no action
    is performed. If you type any other character, CMS continues to
    prompt until you type an acceptable response.

    CMS does not prompt for confirmation in batch mode.

 4.2 - /LOG (D)

    Controls whether CMS displays success and informational messages
    on the default output device. By default, if the command executes
    successfully, CMS displays a success message. If you specify
    /NOLOG, success and informational messages are suppressed. Any
    warning, error, or fatal error messages are displayed regardless
    of whether /LOG or /NOLOG is specified.

 4.3 - /OCCLUDE[=option,...]

    Controls whether CMS selects the first instance of the specified
    object, or all instances of the specified object in the library
    search list. The options field contains one or more keywords
    associated with the name of the object. The options field can
    contain the following keywords:

       ALL--equivalent to ELEMENT
       ELEMENT (D)
       NOELEMENT
       NONE--equivalent to NOELEMENT

    You can specify either ALL, NONE, or the [NO]ELEMENT keyword.

    By default, CMS performs occlusion for all objects; that is, CMS
    selects only the first occurrence of a specified object.

5 - Example

    CMS> DELETE ELEMENT INITX.FOR "x-version no longer required"
    Delete element INITX.FOR? [Y/N] (N): Y
    %CMS-I-DELETED, element DISKX:[PROJECT.CMSLIB]INITX.FOR deleted
    %CMS-S-DELETIONS, 1 deletion completed

      This example uses INITX.FOR as an experimental module; when it
      is no longer needed, it can be deleted from the library.