Shell command will not delete a file with = in the file name

Targets Web
1

I am using a shell to delete pdf files after they have been processed by the app. I just saw a pdf file that would not delete using this shell command. The filename has = in the filename. If I remove the = then it will delete it. I don’t see where = is not supposed to be used in a windows file name. Also file name with parentheses in the name like (1).pdf will not delete.
Is there a command that will delete the file no matter what the name is?

e = "del " + sourcefile.ShellPath
s.execute(e)
2

Try

e = "del " + String.ChrByte(34) +  sourcefile.ShellPath + String.ChrByte(34)
s.execute(e)
3

I will give that a try.
Thanks Wayne

4

That did not work. The file with = in the name was not deleted.
Thanks for the try.

5

Does sourcefile.remove work?

6

Yes that worked perfectly.
Thanks

7

Sourcefile.remove will not always remove the file (for example if it used).

This will work always without escaping special chars:

e = “ del " + Chr(34) + sourcefile.nativepath + Chr(34)
s.execute(e)

8

Is it preferable to use nativepath in a shell command?
I was under the impression that we should use shellpath.

9

Some chars are not escaped when using shellpath (at least when running Windows). Using nativepath and quotes, it does always work.

10

Can you provide more information? This would be a major bug worth reporting if true.

1 Like
11

smb forbidden characters

The following characters are illegal in a share name: \ / [ ] : ¦ < > + = ; , * ? " Control characters in range 0x00 through 0x1F, inclusive, are illegal in a share name. All other Unicode characters are legal.

12

It is no bug. Some chars cannot be escaped. That’s how it is.

13

This does fix the issue. I was also having problems with a space in the filename and this fixed it.
Thanks

14

That doesn’t apply to filenames, folder names, or any local (non-network) resource.

15

Well, it does for sure for several chars. Especially if you going from macOS to Windows (macOS allows far more special chars for filename/folders/…

These are not allowed in Windows but are in macOS: < > " / \ | ? *

If you use shellpath, it will not work. Using nativepath (with quotes) it will work fine.