delete( ) example

The following code removes elements from the array aTest that have the letter "e" in them.

aTest = {"alpha", "beta", "gamma", "delta"}

nDeleted = 0 // Count deleted elements

// Loop through array backwards

for nElement = aTest.size to 1 step -1

   if "e" $ aTest[ nElement ] // If element contains "e" 

      aTest.delete( nElement ) // Delete element 

      nDeleted++ // Increment delete count 

   endif 

endfor

if nDeleted > 0

   aTest.size := aTest.size - nDeleted // Discard false elements

endif

// Display elements (looping forward)

for nElement = 1 to aTest.size

   ? aTest[ nElement ] 

endfor

The loop to delete the elements runs through the array backwards because delete( ) moves all remaining elements forward. You would then have to recheck the same element number and juggle the element counter. It’s simpler to just loop through the array backwards.