| **Navigation:**  [[introduction.htm|Language Reference]] > 13 - Built-in Functions >====== DELETE (delete a record) ====== | [[deformat  return unformatted numbers from string .htm|{{btn_prev_n.gif|Previous page}}]][[introduction.htm|{{btn_home_n.gif|Return to chapter overview}}]][[deletereg remove a value or key from windows registry .htm|{{btn_next_n.gif|Next page}}]] |
|  ||

**DELETE(**// entity //**)**

{{blk2blue.jpg|blk2blue.jpg}}

| **DELETE** | Removes a record from a FILE, VIEW, or QUEUE structure. |
| //entity// | The label of a FILE, VIEW, or QUEUE structure. |

The **DELETE** statement removes a record.

**FILE Usage**

{{black.jpg|black.jpg}}

DELETE(file) removes the last record successfully accessed by NEXT, PREVIOUS, GET, REGET, ADD, or PUT. The key entries for that record are also removed from the KEYs. DELETE does not clear the record buffer. Therefore, data values from the record just deleted still exist and are available for use until the record buffer is overwritten. If no record was previously accessed, or the record is held by another workstation, DELETE posts the "Record Not Available" error and no record is deleted.

**VIEW Usage**

{{black.jpg|black.jpg}}

DELETE(view) removes the last VIEW primary file record that was successfully accessed by a NEXTor PREVIOUS statement. The key entries for that record are also removed from the KEYs. DELETE does not remove records from any secondary JOIN files in the VIEW. If no record was previously accessed, or the record is held by another workstation, DELETE posts the "Record Not Available" error and no record is deleted. The specific disk action DELETE performs in the file is file driver dependent.

DELETE only deletes the primary file record in the VIEW because the VIEW structure performs both relational Project and Join operations at the same time. Therefore, it is possible to create a VIEW structure that, if all its component files were updated, would violate the Referential Integrity rules set for the database. The common solution to this problem in SQL-based database products is to delete only the Primary file record. Therefore, Clarion has adopted this same industry standard solution.

**QUEUE Usage**

{{black.jpg|black.jpg}}

DELETE(queue) removes the QUEUE entry at the position of the last successful GET or ADD and de-allocates its memory. If no previous GET or ADD was executed, the "Entry Not Found" error is posted. DELETE does not affect the current POINTER procedure return value, however, once the entry is deleted, the POINTER value for all subsequent entries in the QUEUE decrement by one (1).

If the QUEUE contains any reference variables or fields with the ANY data type, you must reference assign a NULL to each reference variable and ANY field in the queue structure before the DELETE statement. This will avoid memory leaks by freeing up the memory used by the ANY or reference variables before the DELETE statement.

If for any reason you plan to use DISPOSE on an object in a queue that was created with NEW, you must issue the DISPOSE before the DELETE statement is executed.

**Errors Posted:**

| 05 | Access Denied |
| 08 | Insufficient Memory |
| 30 | Entry Not Found |
| 33 | Record Not Available |

**Example:**

**Customer  FILE,DRIVER('Clarion'),PRE(Cus)  !Declare customer file layout**

**AcctKey    KEY(Cus:AcctNumber)**

**Record     RECORD**

**AcctNumber  LONG**

**Name        STRING(20)**

**Addr        STRING(20)**

**City        STRING(20)**

**State       STRING(20)**

**Zip         STRING(20)**

**           END**

**          END**

**CustView  VIEW(Customer)                 !Declare VIEW structure**

**           PROJECT(Cus:AcctNumber,Cus:Name)**

**          END**

**NameQue   QUEUE,PRE(Que)**

**Name       STRING(20),NAME('FirstField')**

**Zip        DECIMAL(5,0),NAME('SecondField')**

**          END**

** CODE**

** DO BuildQue                             !Call routine to build the queue**

** LOOP X# = RECORDS(NameQue) TO 1 BY -1   !Loop backwards thriough queue**

**  GET(NameQue,X#)                        !geting each entry**

**  ASSERT(NOT ERRORCODE())**

**  IF NameQue.Name[1] = 'J'               !Evaluate a condition**

**   ****DELETE****(NameQue)                       !and delete only specific entries**

**   ASSERT(NOT ERRORCODE())**

**  END**

** END**

** OPEN(Customer)**

** Cus:AcctNumber = 12345                  !Initialize key field**

** SET(Cus:AcctKey,Cus:AcctKey) **

** OPEN(CustView)**

** NEXT(CustView)                          !Get that record**

**  IF ERRORCODE() **

**   STOP(ERROR())**

**  END**

** ****DELETE****(CustView)                        !Delete the customer record**

** CLOSE(CustView)                         !Close the VIEW**

** Cus:AcctNumber = 12345                  !Initialize key field**

** GET(Customer,Cus:AcctKey)               !Get that record**

** IF ERRORCODE() THEN STOP(ERROR()).**

** ****DELETE****(Customer)                        !Delete the customer record**

**See Also:**

[[hold  exclusive record access .htm|HOLD]]

[[next  read next record in sequence .htm|NEXT]]

[[previous  read previous view record in sequence .htm|PREVIOUS]]

[[put  re write record .htm|PUT]]

[[get  read a record or entry .htm|GET]]

[[add  add an entry .htm|ADD]]

[[any  any simple data type .htm|ANY]]

[[clear  clear a variable .htm|CLEAR]]

[[reference variables.htm|Reference Variables]]