deleting files using linux command

[woo]

Hello friends,

i have below programs that i created to delete few selected entire directories from specific dir (on linux system via EG).

this program running fine however, my goal is delete all directories that i have in test2 dataset  (have like 15 dir under test) with "rm -rf" command but its just deleting one dir when i run it,

how can i tell SAS that perform all command (rm -rf) for all directory?

data test (keep=files);

length access $ 20 files $ 200;

infile "cd /test; ls -lt;" pipe firstobs=2;

input access $ nx $ user $ group $ size $ month $ day $ time $ files;

run;

/*creating rm -rf command*/

data test2;

set test;

rmcmd=catx(' ','rm -rf'

              ,cats('/test/',files);

run;

/*rmcmd variable looks like this*/

rmcmd 

rm -rf sdfkjqfjnsvv

rm -rf skdfjspiu

rm -rf soivjasivuhqsvjnsvkjnsv

rm -rf sdlvjasvhqqdsdkvjbqsdvhb

/*trying to execute rm -rf commanf for all*/

data _null_;

set test2;

infile cmd pipe filevar=rmcmd;

input@;

run;

Thanks a lot...!!!

[ballardw]

You might try the FDELETE function. You would not send the unix command just the name of the file and/or directory:

data _null_;
   set test2;
   rc=fdelete(fname);
   put rc=;
   msg=sysmsg();
   put msg=;
run;

where Fname above is just the name of the directory. The PUT statements show the results.

[woo]

dir name I have to remove is bigger than 8 char and that's why may be I am receiving this error,


NOTE: In a call to the FDELETE routine, the fileref rm -rf
/test/sdfkjqfjnsvv exceeds 8 characters, and will be truncated.
rc=20004
msg=ERROR: No logical assign for filename RM.

[ballardw]

the length for any character type variable needs to be set long enough to hand the explected values. For the FDELETE you do not want the "rm -rf" as part of the name string as that is not the actual file or directory name.

Another approach, would be the X or call system statements, IF you have permissions to run X. Since I'm not running on unix I can't really test what you may be attempting to provide more direct examples.

Something like this perhaps:

data _null_;
   set test2;
   call system(rmcmd);
run;

Your pipe failing because INFILE is not really an executeable, as in it isnot called for each record in test2.

[Tom · Accepted solution]

The easiest change is to use the FILEVAR option on the INFILE statement to execute the commands you have generated.

data test2;
  set test;
  rmcmd=catx(' ','rm -rf',cats('/test/',files));
run;

data _null_;
  set test2 ;
  infile cmd pipe filevar=rmcmd end=eof;
  do while (not eof);
    input;
    put _infile_;
  end;
run;

[woo]

tried same Tom 🙂 - worked fine - thanks a lot...

needed that end=eof + do while statement

[Kurt_Bremser]

Why not simply use call system to execute the rm commands?

data _null_;
set test2;
call system(rmcmd);
run;

I'd suggest to use absolute path names for the files to be removed.

[Ksharp]

I would like to make a shell file to contain all these command, and execute once for all.

data _null_;
file '/home/temp.sh';
put "rm -rf sdfkjqfjnsvv";
put "rm -rf skdfjspiu";
put "rm -rf soivjasivuhqsvjnsvkjnsv";
put "rm -rf sdlvjasvhqqdsdkvjbqsdvhb";
run;

x "./home/temp.sh";