Del (command) explained

del / erase
Developer:	DEC, Microware, Microsoft, IBM, DR, Datalight, Novell, JP Software, ReactOS Contributors
Operating System:	RT-11, OS/8, RSX-11, OpenVMS, DOS, OS-9, MSX-DOS, FlexOS, SISNE plus, OS/2, Windows, ReactOS, KolibriOS, SymbOS, DexOS
Platform:	Cross-platform
Genre:	Command

In computing, del (or erase) is a command in command-line interpreters (shells) such as [[COMMAND.COM]], [[cmd.exe]], 4DOS, NDOS, 4OS2, 4NT and Windows PowerShell. It is used to delete one or more files or directories from a file system.

Implementations

The command is available for various operating systems including DOS, Microware OS-9,^[1] IBM OS/2,^[2] Microsoft Windows^[3] and ReactOS.^[4] It is analogous to the Unix [[rm (Unix)|rm]] command and to the Stratus OpenVOS delete_file and delete_dircommands.^[5]

DEC RT-11,^[6] OS/8,^[7] RSX-11,^[8] and OpenVMS^[9] also provide the delete command which can be contracted to del. AmigaDOS^[10] and TSC FLEX^[11] provide a delete command as well.

The erase command is supported by Tim Paterson's SCP 86-DOS.^[12] On MS-DOS, the command is available in versions 1 and later.^[13] It is also available in the open-source MS-DOS emulator DOSBox.

Datalight ROM-DOS also includes an implementation of the and commands.^[14]

While Digital Research DR-DOS supports del and erase as well, it also supports the shorthand form era, which derived from CP/M. In addition to this, the DR-DOS command processor also supports delq/eraq. These are shorthand forms for the del/era/erase command with an assumed /Q parameter (for 'Query') given as well.^[15]

THEOS/OASIS^[16] and FlexOS^[17] provide only the erase command.

In PowerShell, del and erase are predefined command aliases for the Remove-Item cmdlet which basically serves the same purpose.

Syntax

>del filename>erase filename

See also

• deltree
• rmdir
• List of DOS commands
• List of Unix commands

Further reading

• Book: Wolverton. Van. MS-DOS Commands: Microsoft Quick Reference, 4th Revised edition. 1990. Microsoft Press. 978-1556152894.
• Book: Kathy Ivens. Brian Proffit. 1993. OS/2 Inside & Out. Osborne McGraw-Hill. 978-0078818714.
• Book: Frisch, Æleen. 2001. Windows 2000 Commands Pocket Reference. O'Reilly. 978-0-596-00148-3.

External links

• del | Microsoft Docs

Notes and References

1. Book: Paul S. Dayan. 1992. The OS-9 Guru - 1 : The Facts. Galactic Industrial Limited. 0-9519228-0-7.
2. Web site: JaTomes Help - OS/2 Commands . 2019-07-20 . 2019-04-14 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190414130029/http://www.jatomes.com/Help/Os2Cmd.php#ERASE . dead .
3. Web site: Del. docs.microsoft.com. 31 August 2016 .
4. Web site: reactos/reactos. GitHub. 3 January 2022.
5. Web site: Reference manual. stratadoc.stratus.com . 2020-09-14.
6. Web site: RT-11 HELP FILE. paleoferrosaurus.com. 2019-07-06. 2018-07-17. https://web.archive.org/web/20180717041552/http://paleoferrosaurus.com/beta/documents/rt11help.html#DELETE. dead.
7. "Concise Command Language" (CCL).Web site: OS/8 Handbook . April 1974 . 28 November 2017.
8. Book: RSX A Guide for Users . 1987 . John F. Pieper . Digital Equipment Corporation . 0-932376-90-8 . 2020-09-19.
9. Web site: OpenVMS User's Manual. www.itec.suny.edu.
10. Book: AmigaDOS quick reference. Hannes. Rügheimer. Christian. Spanik. September 14, 1988. Grand Rapids, Mi : Abacus. 9781557550491. Internet Archive.
11. Web site: FLEX 2.0 User's Manual.
12. Book: 86-DOS - Disk Operating System for the 8086 - User's Manual . Preliminary . Version 0.3 . 1980 . . Seattle, Washington, USA . 2019-07-14 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20190714004434/http://www.patersontech.com/dos/docs/86_Dos_usr_03.pdf . 2019-07-14. (59 pages)
13. Book: Wolverton. Van. Running MS-DOS Version 6.22 (20th Anniversary Edition), 6th Revised edition. 2003. Microsoft Press. 0-7356-1812-7.
14. Web site: Datalight ROM-DOS User's Guide. www.datalight.com.
15. https://www.4corn.co.uk/archive/docs/DR%20DOS%206.0%20User%20Guide-opt.pdf DR DOS 6.0 User Guide Optimisation and Configuration Tips
16. http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/phaseOneSystems/THEOS_OASIS_Users_Handbook_1985.pdf THEOS/OASIS User′s Handbook
17. Web site: FlexOS User's Guide . 1986 . www.bitsavers.org . 2020-09-14 . 2019-09-25 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190925131719/http://bitsavers.org/pdf/digitalResearch/flexos/1073-2003_FlexOS_Users_Guide_V1.3_Nov86.pdf . dead .