system commands. deletion of file after program terminates

Is there a way to delete an executable after terminating itself?
I want to delete my program after it has finished running.
We are required to write a stack that when overloaded it restarts your machine and on reboot it reloads the data and deletes itself out of the startup folder? I keep getting access violations when trying to delete it while it is still running. Is there a command I can run to execute the delete after the program has completed running? Below is the error in the quote and also a selection from my code.
Thanks for any help this provides.
X

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\Stack Array.exe
Access is denied.

Code:

void stacked::read()              
{
	system("del \"C:\\Documents and Settings\\All Users\\Start Menu\\Programs\\Startup\\Stack Array.exe\"");

	ifstream instream("C:/overflow.dat");
	
	if(instream)
	{		
		dirtball();

		for(int x=0;x<=SIZE-1;x++)
		{
			instream>>dataPtr[x];
		}
		instream>>leftDepth;
		instream>>rightDepth;
		instream>>nummies;
	}		
	display();
	cout<<"Press any key"<<endl;
	getch();

	instream.close();
}

>> I keep getting access violations when trying to delete it while it is still running...


No say? What kind of OS would impose such a ridiculous constraint?


>> We are required to write a stack that when overloaded it restarts your machine and on reboot it reloads the data and deletes itself out of the startup folder...


Hmm, hope you're not planning on writing 3rd-party libraries any time soon ("Can't explain it Phil, I just pushed a value on the stack and the damn machine rebooted!").

I'm not the one that made the rules of the program, I'm just trying to get it to work.

Do you know how to get a system command like delete file to work after the .exe calling it has ended?

possibly like a delayed system command for a few seconds after program termination.

or is there a way to transfer control to the original program after it is booted from the start menu. That would allow me to get around the access violation.

if anybody is looking for the answer i did it with


execl

Try to escape the whitespace. Like this:

system("del \"C:\\Documents\ and\ Settings\\All\ Users\\Start\ Menu\\Programs\\Startup\\Stack\ Array.exe\"");

Another option is:

unlink("C:\\Documents\ and\ Settings\\All\ Users\\Start\ Menu\\Programs\\Startup\\Stack\ Array.exe");

i've never seen unlink?
what does it do?
is it a function?
is there a webpage for details on it?

is this what you are talking about?

The _unlink function deletes the file specified by filename. _wunlink is a wide-character version of _unlink; the filename argument to _wunlink is a wide-character string. These functions behave identically otherwise.

I found this on msdn.com

can this function you are mentioning delete the program while it is running? e.g. load the running program in ram and delete the program from the rom, after execution it is no more?

if not what I have working now is the way to go.
I transfered control to another exe, then executed a no return delete.

Check this link

pratip, he is asking how the executable can delete itself. That is still not going to work because the OS will not allow the file to be deleted when it is still running.

Below is a sample code where I am deleting the running executable file. This works fine.

Code:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
  int i;
  int status;
  char cmd[50];

  printf("Trying to delete the running executable file: %s\n", argv[0]);

  sprintf(cmd, "ls %s", argv[0]);
  /*
    In case of windows use:
    sprintf(cmd, "dir %s", argv[0]);
  */

  printf("Executing OS command: %s\n", cmd);

  system(cmd);

  status = unlink(argv[0]);

  printf("unlink() returned: %d\n", status);

  printf("Check at the OS level whether the file is deleted\n");

  system(cmd);

  for(i=0; i<10; i++)
    {
      printf("%d", i);
    }

  printf("\nExiting application with Status: %d\n", status);
}

Congratulations on finding out that windows and unix/linux are different. The original question was for a windows machine.

Now for many extra bonus points, tell us how unix/linux manages to achieve this.

Now for many extra bonus points, tell us how unix/linux manages to achieve this.

Salem, I don't know the answer. Can you please tell me, how?

>Salem, I don't know the answer.
He didn't expect you to. "Bonus point" questions usually mean you need to do extra work such as search the net and read books until you find the answer. Rest assured that you can learn a lot about Unix/Linux in the process, which is always a good thing.

Thanks Prelude for the suggestion. I found this link while searching which may solve the problem of deleting the executable file on exit.