Self Deleting Files

[bogeymonster1995]

Hi, I hope this is in the right place....
I want to know how to have files that delete themselves after a certain amount of time. E.G. I want to be able to send an mp3 file to my friends that deletes itself after 48 hours. Or some homework that will auto delete so they cannot use it. I know that BBC IPlayer does this with the downloadable programs. Could you also tell me this in a VERY basic way as i am not very good at following complex instructions.

 

[gamerman4]

You can't make normal files auto-delete themselves. Files are just files, there has to be a running process that periodically checks a file and deletes it after a while. Even in older servers where files could have expiration dates, it was the OS that checked and removed any file past an expiration date.

I do not have experience with the BBC Iplayer (since apparently the TV programs are not available for the U.S.) but it seems like the IPlayer is a client that downloads videos for a certain time and deletes them, it is not the actual file that does the deleting, it is the video client.