Microsoft KB Archive/158358

= Error Level 2 Returned on DELETE Command When No Files Found =

Article ID: 158358

Article Last Modified on 11/1/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Developer Edition

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This article was previously published under Q158358



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: KB158358

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