Error Level 2 Returned on DELETE Command When No Files Found

ID: Q158358

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0
Microsoft Windows NT Workstation version 4.0

SUMMARY

The DELETE command returns an error level of 0 for a successful operation. However, beginning with Windows NT 4.0, DELETE returns an error level of 2 if it finds no files to delete.

MORE INFORMATION

This change was made so that batch file designers can detect whether or not files are actually deleted. Batch files that expect 0 to be returned if no files are found to be deleted must be modified for the new return value.

All versions of MS-DOS, Windows 95, and earlier versions of Windows NT return 0 in this circumstance.

Additional query words: prodnt errorlevel

Keywords : kbtool winbatch ntconfig ntdosap ntfilesys NTSrvWkst
Version : 4.0
Platform : winnt
Issue type :