Content

MS DOS Command: DEL

Reference from Microsoft WinXP cmd help

Description

Deletes one or more files.

Syntax

DEL [/P] [/F] [/S] [/Q] [/A[[:]attributes]] names

ERASE [/P] [/F] [/S] [/Q] [/A[[:]attributes]] names

Parameters

names	Specifies a list of one or more files or directories. Wildcards may be used to delete multiple files. If a directory is specified, all files within the directory will be deleted.
/P	Prompts for confirmation before deleting each file.
/F	Force deleting of read-only files.
/S	Delete specified files from all subdirectories.
/Q	Quiet mode, do not ask if ok to delete on global wildcard
/A	Selects files to delete based on attributes
attributes	R Read-only files S System files H Hidden files A Files ready for archiving - Prefix meaning not

Remarks

If Command Extensions are enabled, the /S switch of DEL and ERASE commands is changed. The display semantics of the /S switch are reversed in that it shows you only the files that are deleted, not the ones it could not find.