Deleting Files

You may delete files, folders, and symbolic links from the server, provided that you have sufficient permissions.

To request deletion of a file, use the "–x" option as shown below:

movedat -x [user@]host:path ...

For example,

movedat -x me@example.com:subdir/foo

You may delete directories only if they are empty.  Mass deletion of directory trees is not currently supported.

If you delete one of a matched pair of partial uploads (files ending in -sv.met or -sv.tmp) the server may automatically delete the other.  See the Upload Status section for details.

Multiple remote files may be deleted with a single command.  For example:

movedat -x me@server1.example.com:subdir/foo me@server2.example.com:bar

Wildcards may be used to match multiple remote files.  Note the use of quotes in the example below to avoid local wildcard matching.  The exact syntax required may vary depending upon your shell environment.

movedat -x 'me@example.com:subdir/foo*'

Use caution as wildcards may include files you did not intend.  Read the entire wildcards section for important details.  If you are unsure, use the -F option to test a pattern before performing a deletion.

movedat -F 'me@example.com:subdir/foo*'

Symbolic links may be deleted without affecting the link's target.

Object Handlers

Object handlers may implement the delete function differently, or not at all.  For example, as of this writing, the CloudDat gateway for Amazon S3 allows deletion of all objects with the same prefix, effectively deleting an entire pseudo-folder and its pseudo-contents.