On unix, you can also say, 

unlink $0;

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You can say that at any point in the program, and unix will go ahead and remove the file from the directory without losing the object of the file handle. The removal is completed and disk space released once your program closes.

$ cat > try.pl
#!/usr/bin/perl
print $0, $/;
unlink $0;
print "Feeling faint . . .\n";
$ chmod 755 try.pl
$ cp try.pl try.bak
$ ls try.*
try.bak  try.pl
$ ./try.pl
./try.pl
Feeling faint . . .
$ ls try.*
try.bak
$

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After Compline,
Zaxo

In reply to Re: Deleting a file after it runs? by Zaxo
in thread Deleting a file after it runs? by Spidy

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