DOS Batch - Need to delete a file either if opened or not opened

Below is my batch file
======================
@echo off
cls
echo.

if not exist a.pdf goto nopdf
del a.pdf
echo PDF file is deleted.
goto end

:nopdf
echo PDF file does not exist.

:end

@echo on
==========================
Please tell me what updations should I make to my batch file, so that it deletes the file which is opened too.

If a PDF file is currently opened then it is locked. That means the Adobe Reader process (or Foxit Reader, etc.) has locked the file. Therefore, no you have no writing permissions or whatsoever regarding that file. This is because the active process has an open handle to that file. An open file handle prevents it from being deleted.

There are two workarounds, neither is a direct and straightforward solution. You either find the PID (Process ID) or name of the process that has locked the file, terminate that process, and as a result, you will be able to delete the file since the handle disappears and it becomes unlocked. Or you schedule it using the MoveFileEx API. Calling this API on the specified file schedules it so that during the next reboot your OS will lookup the said file and delete (or move it, replace it, depends on your option).

Simply put, you mark the file for deletion. The deleting process will be executed during the very next system reboot.

Here's a script that implements the aforementioned API: DelLater. And screw batch files. Your code is very simple, thus, doing it in WSH will become very easy and that way you can easily continue by further implementing the API and so on.

For more information and standalone applications that lookup the process ID, terminate the active process, then delete the file check out the following links: here and here. That's all.

Good luck.

From my above batch file, when I try to delete a file which is already open, I am getting the followin message. Please tell me how do I catch the following message from my batch file
"The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process."

off the top of my head, capturing text from a windows GUI screen isnt possible... from batch at least.

Assuming you're using Adobe Acrobat Reader this will do the trick.

If I still used batch, I would suggest that this probably could be done with a combination of the "find" command and "tasklist", combined with the "taskkill" command - and in fact probably rather easily.