RegDeleteKey

The RegDeleteKey function deletes a subkey.

Windows 95/98: The function also deletes all subkeys and values. To delete a key only if the key has no subkeys or values, use the SHDeleteEmptyKey function.

Windows NT/2000: The subkey to be deleted must not have subkeys. To delete a key and all its subkeys, you need to recursively enumerate the subkeys and delete them individually. To recursively delete keys, use the SHDeleteKey function.

LONG RegDeleteKey(
  HKEY hKey,         // handle to open key
  LPCTSTR lpSubKey   // subkey name
);

Parameters

hKey

[in] Handle to a currently open key or one of the following predefined reserved handle values:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG
HKEY_CURRENT_USER
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
HKEY_USERS
Windows NT/2000: HKEY_PERFORMANCE_DATA
Windows 95/98: HKEY_DYN_DATA

The key specified by the lpSubKey parameter must be a subkey of the key identified by hKey.

lpSubKey

[in] Pointer to a null-terminated string specifying the name of the key to delete. This parameter cannot be NULL.

Windows NT/2000: The specified key must not have subkeys.

Return Values

If the function succeeds, the return value is ERROR_SUCCESS.

If the function fails, the return value is a nonzero error code defined in Winerror.h. You can use the FormatMessage function with the FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_SYSTEM flag to get a generic description of the error.

Remarks

If the function succeeds, RegDeleteKey removes the specified key from the registry. The entire key, including all of its values, is removed.

Windows 95/98: No registry subkey or value name may exceed 255 characters.

Requirements

  Windows NT/2000: Requires Windows NT 3.1 or later.
  Windows 95/98: Requires Windows 95 or later.
  Header: Declared in Winreg.h; include Windows.h.
  Library: Use Advapi32.lib.
  Unicode: Implemented as Unicode and ANSI versions on Windows NT/2000.

See Also

Registry Overview, Registry Functions, RegCloseKey, RegCreateKeyEx, RegOpenKeyEx, SHDeleteEmptyKey, SHDeleteKey