GlobalDeleteAtom

	ATOM GlobalDeleteAtom(atm)
	ATOM atm;	/* atom to delete	*/

The GlobalDeleteAtom function decrements (decreases by one) the reference count of a global atom. If the atom's reference count reaches zero, the string associated with the atom is removed from the system atom table.

Parameters

atm

Identifies the atom to be deleted.

Return Value

The return value is zero if the function is successful. The return value is equal to the atm parameter if the function failed to decrement the reference count for the specified atom.

Comments

An atom's reference count specifies the number of times the string has been added to the atom table. The GlobalAddAtom function increments (increases by one) the reference count each time it is called with a string that already exists in the system atom table.

The only way to ensure that an atom has been deleted from the atom table is to call this function repeatedly until it fails. When the count is decremented to zero, the next GlobalFindAtom or GlobalDeleteAtom function call will fail.