delete

Purpose

Deletes global symbols from the symbol table.

Format

delete [-flags] symbol_list

Parameters:

• flags (literal) –

  specify the type(s) of symbols to be deleted

  p	procedures
  k	keywords
  f	fn functions
  m	matrices
  s	strings
  g	only procedures with global references
  l	only procedures with all local references
  n	no pause for confirmation

• symbol (literal) – name of symbol to be deleted. If symbol ends in an asterisk, all symbols matching the leading characters will be deleted.

Examples

// Create a matrix 'x'
x = { 1, 2, 3, 4 };

// 'show' returns information about active symbols
show x;

This should return:

32 bytes   x       MATRIX                 4,1

Now remove the matrix x from the workspace

delete -m x;

At the Delete?[Yes No Previous Quit] prompt, enter y.

show x;

x no longer exists.

Remarks

This completely and irrevocably deletes a symbol from GAUSS’s memory and workspace.

Flags must be preceded by a dash (e.g. -pfk).

If the n (no pause) flag is used, you will not be asked for confirmation for each symbol.

This command is supported only from interactive level. Since the interpreter executes a compiled pseudo-code, this command would invalidate a previously compiled code image and therefore would destroy any program it was a part of.

If any symbols are deleted, all procedures, keywords and functions with global references to those symbols will be deleted as well.