DELETE command: Field

Summary

Privileges

File manager

Function

Deletes a field from a Model 204 file

Syntax

DELETE FIELD fieldname

Where: fieldname is the name of a field in the currently open Model 204 file.

Example

DELETE FIELD EMPID

Usage notes

When a field is deleted, Model 204 removes the definition of the field and all occurrences of data for that field.

Depending on the size of the file and the field type, a DELETE FIELD command might take a long time to complete.

You cannot delete record security fields, sort, or hash key fields. If the specified field is in a Model 204 file with record security, the file manager must have record security override privileges.

When it processes DELETE FIELD, Model 204 ends any update unit in progress and begins a non-backoutable update unit. For more information about Model 204 update units, see the Model 204 File Manager's Guide.

Handling the date/time stamp field in a file

The DELETE FIELD command is prohibited for the DTSFN field in a file when the FOPT=X'10' is set. Attempting to do so results in the following message:

M204.2727: CAN'T DELETE DTS FIELD WHEN FOPT=X'10' IS ON

Large Object data support

The DELETE FIELD command supports the Large Object data type, so you can delete a Large Object field. However, the space in Table B and Table E is not automatically available for reuse.

CHUNK fields

Deleting OI chunk and OI chunk target fields is not allowed.

CTO and CAT fields

As of Model 204 version 7.5, before deleting COUNT-OCCURRENCES-OF (CTO) and CONCATENATION-OF (CAT) fields, you must first delete the fields they depend on.