VB.NET

Delete a Remote File on an SFTP Server

Demonstrates the Chilkat SFtp.RemoveFile method, which deletes a remote file. The only argument is the file path.

Background: Deletion is immediate and permanent — SFTP has no trash or undo — so a job that removes files should be certain of the path first. Whether deletion is even allowed depends on the account's permissions on the file and its containing directory, since on Unix-like systems the right to remove a file comes from write permission on the directory, not the file itself.

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Dim success As Boolean = False

'  Demonstrates the SFtp.RemoveFile method, which deletes a remote file.  The only argument is
'  the file path.

Dim sftp As New Chilkat.SFtp

'  Connect, authenticate, and initialize the SFTP subsystem.
Dim port As Integer = 22
success = sftp.Connect("sftp.example.com",port)
If (success = False) Then
    Debug.WriteLine(sftp.LastErrorText)
    Exit Sub
End If


'  Normally you would not hard-code the password in source.  You should instead obtain it
'  from an interactive prompt, environment variable, or a secrets vault.
Dim password As String = "mySshPassword"

success = sftp.AuthenticatePw("mySshLogin",password)
If (success = False) Then
    Debug.WriteLine(sftp.LastErrorText)
    Exit Sub
End If


success = sftp.InitializeSftp()
If (success = False) Then
    Debug.WriteLine(sftp.LastErrorText)
    Exit Sub
End If


'  Delete a remote file.
success = sftp.RemoveFile("subdir/obsolete.txt")
If (success = False) Then
    Debug.WriteLine(sftp.LastErrorText)
    Exit Sub
End If

Debug.WriteLine("File removed.")

sftp.Disconnect()