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WSupported on Windows
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USupported on Unix
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VSupported on OpenVMS
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NSupported in Synergy .NET
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PURGE channel
Arguments
channel
The channel to purge. (n)
Discussion
The PURGE statement completes any pending I/O, terminates the association of a channel with a file, and deletes the file if it was opened in output mode.
When a channel is purged, all locks on the specified channel are released and the channel is available for future use. After a channel is purged, an I/O statement cannot reference that channel until an OPEN statement reactivates it.
If channel is a serial or terminal device, the runtime flushes the input and output buffers (thus canceling any pending output) and resumes any suspended output.
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To guarantee that all data written to the device is transmitted, use the CLOSE statement. |
If channel is opened in output mode, the PURGE statement deletes the output file. If channel is not opened in output mode, PURGE performs the same function as a CLOSE statement.
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If you specify the TEMPFILE qualifier when opening a file in output mode, and a file with the same name already exists, the existing file is still present after a PURGE is executed. However, if you open an existing file in output mode without the TEMPFILE qualifier specified, the existing file is deleted on the OPEN. |
See also
TEMPFILE qualifier
Examples
See CLOSE for an example of the PURGE statement.
