Delete Badly-Named OS/400 IFS Files, Take Two

July 10, 2002 Timothy Prickett Morgan

Dear Readers:

In the May 15, 2002 issue of the Midrange Guru, I explained how to use an FTP client to delete an IFS file with an improper name . Recently, it occurred to me that there’s an easier way. In fact, there are two easier ways and I’d like to share them with you.

To recap the problem, sometimes client programs create IFS files with names that make OS/400 choke when you try to delete, rename, or otherwise access such files.

However, you may still be able to access these files with wildcards. You can use the question mark (?) to replace a single character and an asterisk (*) to replace zero or more characters.

So, let’s return to the original problem–how to delete a file named ‘lotusdominodata.

From an OS/400 command line, use the Work with Object Links (WRKLNK) command to find the file. Substitute wildcards as necessary:

wrklnk '?lot*'

In this example, WRKLNK is to display file names that begin with any character followed by the letters l, o, and t, followed by zero or more characters.

If the display shows files that you do not wish to delete, refine the file name in the WRKLNK command as necessary.

When the system shows only one file, you’re in luck. Press the F9 key to retrieve the WRKLNK command. Replace WRK with RMV and press Enter to run the Remove Link (RMVLNK) command:

rmvlnk '?lot*'

The second method is similar. Use the ls and rm commands under Qshell:

ls ?lotus* 
rm ?lotus* 

— Ted

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