Deleting Files(MS-DOS)

                                                                            

This section explains how to delete, or remove, a file that you no longer want on your disk. If you don’t

have very much disk space, deleting files you no longer use is essential.

To delete a file, you will use the del command. The del command stands for "delete."

• Deleting a File

In this section, you will delete two files using the del command.

Before you begin, make sure your command prompt looks like the following:

C:\FRUIT>

To delete the PEARCOM and PEAR.HLP files

1. Delete the PADNOTE.TXT file by typing the following at the command prompt:

del PADNOTE.TXT

2. To confirm that you deleted the files successfully, type the following at the command prompt:

dir

• Deleting a Group of Files

In this section, you will use wildcards to delete a group of files.

Before you begin this section, make sure your command prompt looks like the following:

C:\FRUIT>

To delete files in the current directory that end with the extension OLD by using wildcards

1. View all files that end with the extension OLD by typing the following at the command prompt:

dir *.old

A list of all the files that end with the extension OLD appears. Make sure that these are the files

you want to delete. When you are deleting files by using wildcards, this step is very important. It

will prevent you from deleting files accidentally.

2. Delete all files ending with OLD by typing the following at the command prompt:

del *.old

3. To confirm that all the files with the extension OLD have been deleted, type the following at the

command prompt:

dir

The FRUIT directory should contain no files.

Now that the FRUIT directory is empty, you can delete it by using the rd (remove directory) command that

you learned to use in "Deleting a Directory" earlier in this chapter.

• To delete the FRUIT directory

1. Return to the root directory by typing the following at the command prompt:

cd \

2. You can see the FRUIT directory in the directory list by typing the following at the command

prompt:

dir or dir /p

3. Remove the FRUIT directory by typing the following at the command prompt:

rd fruit

4. To verify that the FRUIT directory has been removed, type the following at the command prompt:

dir or dir /p

The FRUIT directory should not appear in the directory list.