File Delete

In this article

Overview

You can use this Snap to delete a file in the SLDB, S3, FTP, SFTP, FTPS, WASB, WASBS, GS, and SMB protocols.



Snap Type

The File Delete Snap is a WRITE-type Snap.

Prerequisites

Support for Ultra Pipelines

Works in Ultra Task Pipelines.

Limitations

None.

Known Issues

  • This Snap Pack does not natively support SHA1-based algorithms to connect to SFTP endpoints. With the August 2023 GA release, you can now leverage the properties specified in the Configuration settings for Snaps to add support for ones that are disabled on your Snaplex. 

Snap Views

Type

Format

Number of Views

Examples of Upstream and Downstream Snaps

Description

Type

Format

Number of Views

Examples of Upstream and Downstream Snaps

Description

Input 

Document



  • Min: 0

  • Max: 1

  • CSV Parser

  • JSON Parser

The Snap expects to find values for the JSON paths used in the File property, if any.

Output

Document



  • Min: 0

  • Max: 1

  • CSV Formatter

  • JSON Formatter

The file name and the delete status are written to the output view. The following example shows the output document map data:

{ "file": "sldb:///sample.json", "status": "200 OK" }

Error

Error handling is a generic way to handle errors without losing data or failing the Snap execution. You can handle the errors that the Snap might encounter when running the Pipeline by choosing one of the following options from the When errors occur list under the Views tab. The available options are:

  • Stop Pipeline Execution: Stops the current pipeline execution when the Snap encounters an error.

  • Discard Error Data and Continue: Ignores the error, discards that record, and continues with the remaining records.

  • Route Error Data to Error View: Routes the error data to an error view without stopping the Snap execution.

Learn more about Error handling in Pipelines.

Snap Settings

  • Asterisk (*): Indicates a mandatory field.

  • Suggestion icon (): Indicates a list that is dynamically populated based on the configuration.

  • Expression icon (  ): Indicates whether the value is an expression (if enabled) or a static value (if disabled). Learn more about Using Expressions in SnapLogic.

  • Add icon (  ): Indicates that you can add fields in the fieldset.

  • Remove icon (): Indicates that you can remove fields from the fieldset.

Field Name

Field Type

Description



Field Name

Field Type

Description



Label*

 

Default Value: File Delete
Example: File Delete

String

Specify a unique name for the Snap.

File*

 

Default value: [None] 
Example

SLDB:

sldb:///usr/john/json_files/accounts.json

VPC:

  • s3:///snaplogic-bucket@bucket.vpce-0e340d8d5b0eae90a-k9wbom46-us-west-2a.s3.us-west2.vpce.amazonaws.com

String/Expression

Specify the URL for the file to be deleted. It might start with a file protocol. The supported file protocols are SLDB, S3, FTP, SFTP, FTPS, WASB, WASBS, GS, and SMB protocols.

This Snap supports S3 Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) endpoint.

When deleting a directory, ensure to empty its contents first (delete the files within the directory and then the directory folder itself). 

Ensure the file name or the file path does not contain '?' character because it is not fully supported and when present, the Snap might fail.

File delete action

Default value: ERROR if file not found
Example: IGNORE if file not found

Dropdown list

Specify the action that the Snap must take when the target file is not found during a file delete attempt. Select from the following options:

  • ERROR if file not found: The Snap writes an error to the error view.

  • IGNORE if file not found: The Snap writes the status 200 OK to the output view. 

Validate deletion

 

Default valueDeselected 

Checkbox

Select this check box to enable the Snap to check if the deleted file still exists.



Number of retries



Default value: 0
Example3

Integer/Expression

Specify the maximum number of retry attempts in case of a network failure.

If the value is larger than 0, the Snap first downloads the target file into a temporary local file. If any error occurs during the download, the Snap waits for the time specified in the Retry interval and attempts to download the file again from the beginning. When the download is successful, the Snap streams the data from the temporary file to the downstream Pipeline. All temporary local files are deleted when they are no longer needed.

Ensure that the local drive has sufficient free disk space to store the temporary local file.

Minimum value: 0

Retry interval (seconds)

Default value: 1
Example: 3

Integer/Expression

Specify the minimum number of seconds for which the Snap must wait before attempting recovery from a network failure.

Minimum value: 1



Advanced properties

Use this field set to define additional advanced properties. 

  • Properties

    • SAS URI

Dropdown list

 

Values

String/Expression

Specify the value for SAS URI.

Snap Execution



Default Value: Execute only
Example: Validate & Execute

Dropdown list

Examples

Deleting a File from Your SnapLogic Database

The following pipeline describes a File Delete Snap that deletes a file from your SnapLogic database. The pipeline:

  1. Reads a file from your SnapLogic database using the File Reader Snap.

  2. Writes/Creates a new file in your SnapLogic database using the File Writer Snap.

  3. Passes the filename field to the File field of the File Delete Snap using the Mapper Snap.

  4. Deletes the newly created file, using the filename parameter, from your SnapLogic database using the File Delete Snap:


     

Similarly, in the above example, you can directly pass the filename in the File field of the File Delete Snap: 

The following File Delete Snap deletes a file that exists on an external server. You must link the File Delete Snap with a valid user account and ensure that the user account has the appropriate privileges to delete a file from an external server. In the following pipeline, the File Delete Snap uses valid FTP user account credentials to delete the test.csv file: