DELETE command: Field

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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.
As of Model 204 V7.5, DELETE FIELD does not allow deletion of fields referred to by an existing CONCATENATION-OF (CAT) or COUNT-OCCURRENCES-OF (CTO) field.

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' bit 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 types, so you can delete a Large Object field. However, the space in Table B and Table E is not automatically available for reuse.

OI CHUNK fields

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