The DELETE GENERATION command removes information about one or
more generations of an element. Once a generation is deleted, it
cannot be restored to its former place in the element in the CMS
library. You can, however, archive the contents of the generation
using the /ARCHIVE qualifier and later restore the contents of the
generation.
If the generation or range of generations to be deleted has a
direct descendant generation (that is, a descendant generation on
the same line of descent), then the changes associated with those
generations are combined, and then those changes are combined
with the changes in the descendant generation. If there is
no descendant generation, that is, the generation or range of
generations to be deleted is at the end of the line of descent,
then the changes associated with those generations are discarded.
You can specify a single generation with the /GENERATION
qualifier. /GENERATION=1+ is the default. You can also specify
a range of generations with either the /AFTER or /FROM qualifier
to delimit the beginning of a range, and either the /BEFORE or /TO
qualifier to delimit the end of a range. These sets of qualifiers
can be paired to specify ranges with inclusive or exclusive
endpoints (see the restriction section).
If you delete the latest generation on the main line of descent of
an element that has the reference copy attribute, CMS deletes the
generation's reference copy and creates a new reference copy that
corresponds to the generation that is now the latest generation on
the main line of descent.