Q48090

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Q48090: Using a Wildcard Argument with the remove() Function

Article: Q48090
Version(s): 5.10   | 5.10
Operating System: MS-DOS | OS/2
Flags: ENDUSER | S_QuickC S_QuickASM
Last Modified: 16-JAN-1990

Question:

I'm using the remove() function to delete my files, but when I pass
the wildcard as an argument, the function does not delete any files.
Is there any why I can use the remove() function to delete all the
files in the directory when I specify it to?

Response:

Yes; use the _dos_findfirst and _dos_findnext functions to search for
each file and then use the remove() function to delete each file. The
following example demonstrates how to write a code equivalent to
remove("*.*"):

Code Example
------------

#include <stdio.h>
#include <dos.h>
#include <io.h>

main ()
{
   struct find_t  c_file;
   char fn[12];

   printf ("Enter file to delete: ");
   scanf ("%s", fn);

/* This code section will delete all the files in the directory. */
   if (strcmp(fn, "*.*") == 0) {
     _dos_findfirst ("*.*", _A_NORMAL, &c_file);
     do {
            remove (c_file.name);
        } while (_dos_findnext (&c_file) == 0);
     }
   else

/* This section will delete only one file. */
     if (remove (fn) == -1)
        printf ("File not found\n");
     else
        printf ("File successfully deleted\n");
}