SAP Note 18273 - DELETE DATASET returns SY-SUBRC = 4

Symptom:

The ABAP/4 language element

DELETE DATASET .

sets SY-SUBRC to 4.

Cause and prerequisites

The specified file could not be deleted.

Solution
There are various possible causes:

1) The specified file does not exist
2) The specified file is a directory
3) The SAP system cannot search for a component of the specified
file name (search path)
4) The SAP system has no write access to the directory containing
the specified file.
5) A component of the search path is not a directory
6) The file is a symbolic link that cannot be expanded (loop?)
7) The specified file is a program that is currently running.