MPI_FILE_DELETE(3)

okay so bestie, welcome to the MPI_FILE_DELETE(3) page from Open MPI 💖 — the manual page for MPI_File_delete — Deletes a file. It’s giving “one tiny function, one very specific job” energy, and honestly? Obsessed.

🎀 SYNTAX 🎀

Here’s the whole “how do I even call this” moment, in all three flavors:

💅 C Syntax

          #include <mpi.h>

          int MPI_File_delete(const char *filename, MPI_Info info)

🧚 Fortran Syntax

          USE MPI
          ! or the older form: INCLUDE 'mpif.h'
          MPI_FILE_DELETE(FILENAME, INFO, IERROR)
               CHARACTER*(*)   FILENAME
               INTEGER INFO, IERROR

🌈 Fortran 2008 Syntax

          USE mpi_f08
          MPI_File_delete(filename, info, ierror)
               CHARACTER(LEN=*), INTENT(IN) :: filename
               TYPE(MPI_Info), INTENT(IN) :: info
               INTEGER, OPTIONAL, INTENT(OUT) :: ierror

🌸 INPUT PARAMETERS 🌸

Two inputs, no mystery:

• filename — Name of file to delete (string). 🗂️
• info — Info object (handle). 🎀

💖 OUTPUT PARAMETER 💖

Just one, and it’s Fortran-coded:

• ierror — Fortran only: Error status (integer).

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

MPI_File_delete deletes the file identified by the file name filename, provided it is not currently open by any process. It is an error to delete the file with MPI_File_delete if some process has it open, but MPI_File_delete does not check this.

⚠️ No cap: the no-check part is real. It will not vibe-check that for you, bestie.

If the file does not exist, MPI_File_delete returns an error in the class MPI_ERR_NO_SUCH_FILE. That’s the whole description. Slay. ✨

🔥 ERRORS 🔥

Ok so error handling in MPI is a whole ecosystem, and here’s the tea:

Almost all MPI routines return an error value; C routines as the return result of the function and Fortran routines in the last argument.

Before the error value is returned, the current MPI error handler associated with the communication object (e.g., communicator, window, file) is called. If no communication object is associated with the MPI call, then the call is considered attached to MPI_COMM_SELF and will call the associated MPI error handler.

Now, when MPI_COMM_SELF is not initialized (i.e., before MPI_Init/MPI_Init_thread, after MPI_Finalize, or when using the Sessions Model exclusively) the error raises the initial error handler. The initial error handler can be changed by calling MPI_Comm_set_errhandler on MPI_COMM_SELF when using the World model, or the mpi_initial_errhandler CLI argument to mpiexec or info key to MPI_Comm_spawn/MPI_Comm_spawn_multiple.

If no other appropriate error handler has been set, then the MPI_ERRORS_RETURN error handler is called for MPI I/O functions and the MPI_ERRORS_ABORT error handler is called for all other MPI functions. That’s the default tea. 🫖

Open MPI includes three predefined error handlers that can be used:

• MPI_ERRORS_ARE_FATAL — Causes the program to abort all connected MPI processes. 💀
• MPI_ERRORS_ABORT — An error handler that can be invoked on a communicator, window, file, or session. When called on a communicator, it acts as if MPI_Abort was called on that communicator. If called on a window or file, acts as if MPI_Abort was called on a communicator containing the group of processes in the corresponding window or file. If called on a session, aborts only the local process.
• MPI_ERRORS_RETURN — Returns an error code to the application.

MPI applications can also implement their own error handlers by calling:

• MPI_Comm_create_errhandler then MPI_Comm_set_errhandler
• MPI_File_create_errhandler then MPI_File_set_errhandler
• MPI_Session_create_errhandler then MPI_Session_set_errhandler or at MPI_Session_init
• MPI_Win_create_errhandler then MPI_Win_set_errhandler

⚠️ Note that MPI does not guarantee that an MPI program can continue past an error.

See the MPI man page for a full list of MPI error codes.

See the Error Handling section of the MPI-3.1 standard for more information.

👑 COPYRIGHT 👑

2003-2026, The Open MPI Community

mwah 💋 — that’s the whole MPI_FILE_DELETE(3) page from Open MPI, dated Sep 11, 2026. Go forth and delete with main character energy, bestie 🫶✨