Deleting Data Items: Summary

You delete a data item to remove it from the cache structure. Deleting a data item removes the name from the cache structure, marks the copies of the data item as not valid for all users, and frees the data item's cache structure resources for reuse.

To identify the data item, specify the data item name on the NAME keyword. If you want to delete only the named data item, omit the NAMEMASK keyword.
To delete all data items with names that match a specified character pattern, code both the NAME and NAMEMASK keywords. NAME must specify a data item name that contains the specified character pattern. NAMEMASK must specify a bit-string where the bits that correspond to the specified character pattern are set to B'1'. For examples that show how to use NAME and NAMEMASK together, see Using Filters for Names on Requests.

If the coupling facility model dependent time-out criteria is exceeded or a halt condition is found as a result of specifying HALTONCHANGED=YES, the delete request completes prematurely. For the premature completion of a request, the system returns a token that you can use to restart the request from the point at which it prematurely ended. The system returns the token in the CAARESTOKEN or CAAEXTRESTOKEN field of the answer area. To restart a request that completes prematurely, code the IXLCACHE REQUEST=DELETE_NAME request as you previously coded it with the exception of the RESTOKEN or EXTRESTOKEN keyword. The RESTOKEN or EXTRESTOKEN keyword must specify the token that the system returned when the delete request ended prematurely.

There are other keywords that are required and some that are optional. For a description of keywords that are applicable to all IXLCACHE requests, see: