I'm assuming you're using Windows... DEL is part of CMD.EXE (or Command.COM) not a program in its own right... perhaps you should look at unlink (perldoc -f unlink) instead?

Update:

Your system("echo %errorlevel%") call is spawned in a different CMD.EXE than your system("del tmp.txt"); so even if it worked it wouldn't be what you wanted... If you need to know if the file was there first you can do

#simplest format
if (-e $filename){
    if ((unlink($filename)) {
        print STDERR "File $filename deleted.\n";
    }else{
        print SDTERR "Couldn't delete $filename $!\n";
    }
}else{
    print STDERR "File didn't exist\n";
}
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my $error = system('del temp.txt');
print qq(Return value is $error\n);
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Add a

    $error >>= 8;
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between your first and last line to get a more accurate value.

Abigail

Thanks for the quick reply. We r having a small problem with the return codes, the Return Code displayed is a multiple of "Actual Code * 256" Ex:- If the file is not present the expected code is 1 and getting return code as 256.

Read what Abigail-II wrote. Also read perldoc -f system.

duff

Maybe this is redundant, but in your example, you don't need the system command at all. You could use unlink.

Update: it is redundant now, since maa beat me in typing speed ;)

my $cmd = "del temp.txt";
system ($cmd) == 0 or die "Cannot $cmd:$?\n";
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