Error when deleting the last record out of a file

[Mike Schwartz]

> Consider what the "-n" and "-b" flags mean.
> 
> The "-n" flag says that filePro should "do nothing", and allow you to
> test
> "not lookupname" for failure.
> 
> On the other hand, "-b" means "if the lookup fails, pretend it
> succeeded,
> and found a record full of blanks".  How would such a lookup ever fail?
> 
> --
> KenBrody at BestWeb dot net        spamtrap:

    Yes, I was having another senior "duh" moment.  It's become so automatic
over the past 30+ years to use the "-b" option and then do all the error
handling myself, after I pretend a lookup has succeeded, that, late in the
day, it didn't dawn on me to try the "-n" flag.

    By the way, I tested the "-n" flag this morning, and the processing
works without giving me an error. 

    As far as a "tip of the day", I copied this deletion routine from
another processing table written by somebody else that is dated 1986, and it
is working without errors with the "-b" option on the production server. I
believe it failed while I was testing it on the "test server" because I was
starting with a clean file on each run.  (no existing records in the
temporary file...)

    On the production server, there are always 10,000 pre-allocated blank
records.  At least that's the only thing I can think of that would cause the
"-b" to work for 30 years in a production environment, yet fail on my
smaller testing server...

Thanks,

Mike Schwartz